High School Volleyball: Naselle topples familiar foes to secure 7th place State finish
1B State Tournament – Comets fend off Wahkiakum and Taholah to send seniors out with another trophy
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1B Prep Volleyball / Report
By now these Naselle Comets know the way to Yakima like the back of their hand. And Saturday they made sure those hands had a trophy to carry on their way back from the SunDome after securing a seventh place finish in the 1B State Volleyball Tournament.
Naselle entered the tournament ranked No. 8 by the WIAA seeding committee and saw its hopes of a State championship dashed in the opening round with a three-set loss to No. 9 ranked Wilbure-Creston-Keller. But the Comets recovered their steam in time to defeat Northport in an elimination match that earned them a return ticket to The Dome on Thursday.
And who did the Comets face? None other than their next-town-neighbors from Wahkiakum for a Km Mountain Battle on the other side of a different, much larger, mountain.
Naselle took out the Mules in four sets and then rematched with Taholah, the team it defeated for the District title just last weekend, and emerged victorious in a five-set battle to lockdown seventh place.
The senior Comets were freshmen on the team when Naselle placed third in the tournament, and head coach Bekah Wirkkala says that this year’s group was as well prepared as any group she’s coached.
And what’s more, they really seem to enjoy putting in the work.
“I think they’re great. I think this is probably the best we’ve been as a team … they’re just in great shape,” Wirkkala noted. “We’ve been lifting throughout th season and conditioning and preparing for this. Physically I think they could have played a whole other match. Mentally, and emotionally, maybe not so much.”
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