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Seattle Prep Wins 3A ChampionshipThis year's Finals were full of surprises. Fife had marched relentlessly past Burlington-Edison (15-8, 15-10,) Issaquah (15-11, 15-6,) Mark Morris (15-8, 12-15, 15-12,) West Valley (15-5, 15-7,) and Selah (15-13, 15-8,) in their journey to the Finals. They seemed to be masters of tempo. Against powerful opponents, they served tough, worked the middle and blocked and dug. Against quick opponents, they clamped down the middle, and ratcheted the pace up another notch. Meanwhile Prep had been methodically dismantling their pool opponents, but struggled against Kennedy (15-5, 10-15, 15-10) and Camas (15-6, 14-16, 15-5) in the playoffs. The inside line was stop Prep's big hitters, "Z" Leonard and Tymmony Keegan, and walk into the title. But Leah Jackson and her two overlooked middle hitters, Christina Payne and Jessie Johnson, had some lines of their own. Leah's line went from the #2 spot hard into the deep #1 corner, and the middles pounded away on both sides, and rarely came close to any lines. It was still a game of power volleyball with Fife digging or dying against Prep's big hitters, but the extra points provided by Jackson and her battery in the middle were the difference in game one (15-13.) In game two, Prep seemed to relax and increased the tempo, while Fife played tight. Again "Z" and Tymmony crushed the majority of kills, but Leah provided several key second-ball hits, and Payne was steadily effective. Both teams played with a lot of character, and both represent the best of 3A volleyball. Meanwhile, Kennedy met West Valley in the 3rd Place finals, and Michelle Aurelio put on a show of power clutch hitting that was unmatched in my memory. Acrobatic saves at the net that became thumps instead of points lost were balanced with powerful blasts from the back row that regularly scored. But it wasn't enough. West Valley was bruised, but they never got discouraged, and despite the difficulties, they kept coming back at Kennedy. And in the end West Valley won. It was a great match. The results are posted on the WIAA web site. The WIAA is to be commended for their effective use of the internet in keeping volleyball fans across the state informed on the progress of the tournaments. It was a great pleasure to be able to click over to the 2A or 4A tournaments to see how they were going.
Post-Season District Tournaments
Post-Season League Tournaments
Follow the links, above, for post-season league tournament results.
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