Lady Lions fall short

Moses Lake Christian finishes in second place

YAKIMA - The Moses Lake Christian Lady Lions fell just four points shy of the school's first Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) 1B volleyball state championship Saturday night when the lost to the LaCrosse-Washtucna Tigercats in five games.

The Lady Lions began the WIAA 1B state championship tournament with three consecutive victories before losing in the state championship game.

Moses Lake Christian head coach Dean Spurbeck was impressed with his team's performance.

"It's the best the school has ever done," Spurbeck said. "We showed improvement after losing four starters from last year's team. I am very proud of them in that way."

Moses Lake Christian senior Esther Timofeyev led the Lady Lions throughout the tournament, Spurbeck said.

"Esther played unbelievable (volleyball)," he said. "She pretty much carried us through the whole thing. She whaled on balls for three games."

Moses Lake Christian began the tournament with a 3-1 victory over the Odessa Lady Tigers before sweeping North Sound Christian in the quarterfinals.

The Lady Lions continued their tournament dominance with a 3-1 victory over the Wilbur-Creston Wildcats in the semifinals, propelling the team from Moses Lake into the state championship match.

After the Lady Lions and the Wildcats split the first two games of their semifinal match, Moses Lake Christian rallied to dominate the final two games 25-13 and 25-6 to earn an opportunity to play for the state championship.

Spurbeck said he was surprised with his team's play in the win over Wilbur-Creston.

"We totally came out and dominated Wilbur-Creston," he said. "We played great."

Following their win over Wilbur-Creston, the Lady Lions took on the LaCrosse-Washtucna Tigercats for the WIAA 1B championship.

Moses Lake Christian rallied to a 25-20 first game victory to take a 1-0 lead over LaCrosse-Washtucna.

The Tigercats would even the championship match with a 25-21 victory before the Lady Lions clawed their way to a 2-1 lead with another 25-20 victory in game three.

With the state championship on the line, LaCrosse-Washtucna rebounded for another 25-21 victory as the Tigercats pushed the Lady Lions to a fifth game tie-breaker for the championship.

After playing through four grueling games, the Tigercats were able to hold off the Lady Lions 15-11 in game five to win the state championship.

Moses Lake Christian continued to compete with LaCrosse-Washtucna until the end, Spurbeck said.

"(LaCrosse-Washtucna) got everything we hit up," he said. "We pounded on balls like crazy and they got it back up. We slid a little bit in that fifth game but it was a great experience. It was very enjoyable."

Following the loss, the Lady Lions were disappointed, but Spurbeck told them to hold their heads high.

"Right now you are all sad and stuff because you lost," Spurbeck said he told his team. "When that ends you are going to feel better because you were second at state."

Moses Lake Christian senior Kaylee Firouzi led the Lady Lions with 49 assists in the championship game while here sister, Kristina Firouzi added 11 digs.

Timofeyev led the Moses Lake Christian attack with 34 kills and Melissa Verhage added 10 kills.

Timofeyev also had 17 digs, four blocks and three aces for state runner-up Moses Lake Christian.