Eastside Catholic volleyball tripped up by Seattle Prep in state championship

Eastside Catholic fell just shy of reaching its ultimate goal on Saturday, placing second to Seattle Prep in the 3A state volleyball tournament in Kennewick.

"I feel like our girls never really got going in that last match," said head coach Andrew Ness. "We have a game plan for when we play Prep and it had worked very well the other two times we played them this season. We weren't able to execute the game plan in this match and really went away from it."

The Crusaders jumped on the Panthers in the first game 25-23, only to drop the next three games — 25-11, 25-16, 25-20.

"I had never seen Seattle Prep play that good," Ness said. "Everything went their way and all there players really stepped up and played great. For us to of had a chance we would of had to bring our top game, but fell way short of that."

Eastside, won its first three matches of the tournament, taking down Ferndale (25-16, 25-20, 25-15), Auburn Mountainview (20-25, 25-10, 25-15, 25-20) and West Valley of Yakima (25-23, 22-25, 19-25, 27-25, 15-12).

Cami Silverman led the Crusaders over the four matches with a combined 81 kills and 73 digs. Kameron McLain added 67 kills and eight blocks, while Hannah Christie and Emilee Derus had 87 and 62 assists, respectively.

Eastside Catholic finished its season with a 19-3 overall record. This was the Crusaders third second-place finish. They finished as runner-up to Seattle Prep in 2003 and were second to Shadle Park in 2008.

"I felt that the girls came into the season with a clear and defined goal and worked hard to give themsleves a chance to attain that goal," Ness said. "They came really close and shocked a lot of teams through the year that didn't expect them to be as good as they are."

Contact Sammamish Reporter Sports Editor Kevin Endejan at kendejan@issaquah-reporter.com or 425-391-0363, ext. 5054.

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