Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Lady Eagles take 7th place at STATE!

Seventh at State

The Lakeside Eagle Volleyball team qualified for the State 1A Tournament by defeating Okanogan in three games, Chelan in five games, and losing a thrilling five-game match to Colfax at the Regional Tournament. The Eagles had been swept in three games by the Bulldogs in previous meetings. It only proved to the Eagles that they had made great progress during the season. The Eagles earned the second seed to State.

Being the young team that they were, the Eagles proved to be a little nervous in the first game with Annie Wright High School. It was a close game, but the Eagles pulled ahead in the end. Once the nervous jitters were out of the way, the Eagles dominated the next two games and swept Annie Wright in three games.

The win set up the Eagles with a match-up with Connell in the quarterfinals. The Eagles stormed ahead and beat Connell convincingly in the first two games. Connell was very hard to defend because they were very unpredictable, and they didn’t seem to have a rhythm, which really confused the Eagles. They weren’t your basic pass, set, and hit team. They would tip you to death or randomly shoot it over on the second hit to anywhere on the court. Connell had ten seniors, and when their backs were against the wall, they came out battling. The Eagles lost the next three games to Connell. They just couldn’t get the momentum back. The Lady Eagles were devastated. The Eagles could now place no higher than fourth, but to even get into the trophy matches, they had to play Onalaska. This was a loser-out match.

The Lady Eagles only had a short time to regroup after their loss to Connell. They had to regain composure and forge ahead. The Eagles were very angry at themselves for the loss to Connell, and it showed on the court against Onalaska. They showed no mercy for the Loggers. They swept them in three games. Kelli Tikker led the Eagles with 14 kills, 4 blocks, and 12 digs. Lauryn Bassen added 18 assists. The Eagles were now guaranteed a trophy.

The Eagles played their final match against a tough Cedar Park Christian team and they never seemed to get into a rhythm, and they lost in three. The Eagles finished seventh and took home a trophy. Many were disappointed because there was a feeling that we could have done so much more. The quarterfinal loss against Connell took a lot of heart out of the team, and they tried very hard to battle back, but I think they found it difficult to shake off.
Kelli Tikker led the Eagles against Cedar Park Christian with 17 kills and 3 blocks. Sara Moffatt added 17 digs, and Cami Alexander dished up 17 assists.

In the five-game match with Connell, Kelli Tikker had 28 kills and 4 blocks, and Aleesha Denney added 17 kills and 4 blocks. Lauryn Bassen led the assist category with 31 assists, and Leslie Stillar added 23 digs.

This was a team that started the season with only four returners. This was supposed to be a building year for Lakeside Volleyball, but this team proved to be so much more. It took a lot of hard work and dedication from this very young team. They accomplished things that no one ever thought that they would achieve. Congratulations to the 2007 Lady Eagles Volleyball team.

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