Devils fall, Lions on to state

WENATCHEE – The MLCA/CCS Lions punched their ticket to state with an appearance in Thursday’s 1B District 6 Championship game against Entiat, while the Wilson Creek Devils were eliminated in the consolation bracket to Waterville-Mansfield.

The Lions had defeated Waterville-Mansfield in the semi-finals to advance to the title game, while Wilson Creek had lost to No. 1 seed Entiat in the semis.

“We played well against Waterville, and we had our shot,” MLCA/CCS head coach Dean Spurbeck said.

MLCA/CCS took the first set 25-23 to take a 1-0 lead in the match, but the Tigers fought back to win the next three sets for a 3-1 win and a district title. Both teams qualified for state solely by making the championship game.

“They placed the ball well, and so sometimes it’s stuff that we have to get used to getting,” Spurbeck said. “A lot of the times it’s just us getting a good pass to be able to get a good set to be able to pound the ball really well.”

Despite a loss in the district championship game, Spurbeck said that the team is looking forward to bouncing back at state.

“District is district, now we go to state,” Spurbeck said. “Now’s when to play. I mean, yeah, it would’ve been nice to take first, but it is what it is. Now we go and try to play the best we can and see what we can get there.”

Spurbeck said that the Lions will be working on calling the ball before the state tournament in Yakima.

“Placing there is better than placing here,” Spurbeck said. “It’s stuff that we see, stuff that we got to work on. We know the stuff we got to work on, we just got to keep doing it.”

Inside the Wenatchee High School Auxiliary Gym, the Devils took on No. 2 seed Waterville-Mansfield for a chance to make it to state. Wilson Creek battled in the first set, but the Shockers grabbed the momentum in a 25-16 win.

“I think we just lost this game mentally, Waterville got the momentum and kept the momentum,” Christopherson said.

Waterville-Mansfield rode their momentum to wins in the next two sets, taking the match 3-0 to advance to state. After the game, Christopherson spoke on how much the team had improved throughout the course of the season.

“The girls improved astronomically throughout the season,” Christopherson said. “Their improvement throughout the season is just so, so much better and I can’t wait until next season.”

Christopherson said that she is looking forward to building off of this season’s ending for future seasons.

“I think we can definitely build off (this run) because we should have everyone back,” Christopherson said. “I only have sophomores and juniors, so hopefully we have a few freshmen come in and we can really build up the program.”

Seeding has not been set yet for the 1B state tournament, but the tournament begins Nov. 10 at the Yakima Valley SunDome.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box scores:

Wilson Creek vs Waterville-Mansfield

Set 1 - Shockers 25, Devils 16

Set 2- Shockers 25, Devils 8

Set 3 - Shockers 25, Devils 11

MLCA/CCS vs Entiat

Set 1 - MLCA/CCS 25, Entiat 23

Set 2 - Entiat 25, MLCA/CCS 21

Set 3 - Entiat 25, MLCA/CCS 20

Set 4 - Entiat 25, MLCA/CCS 21