ACH Warriors take fourth at 1B state tournament

YAKIMA — The Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors left Thursday’s 1B State Volleyball Tournament with hardware, taking home a fourth-place trophy back to Coulee City.

The No. 4 seed Warriors opened the tournament with wins over Mount Vernon Christian and Mary Walker on Wednesday but lost to No. 1 Oakesdale in the state semifinals and No. 3 Mossyrock in the third/fourth-place game.

“It feels good to bring home hardware,” ACH coach Katie Walsh said. “Nothing to hang your heads about with fourth place, at all. A little bit of mixed emotions, there’s some tears after because this is a special group.”

ACH led 2-1 over the eventual 1B state champion Oakesdale Nighthawks, but Oakesdale outscored the Warriors 25-10 in the fourth set and 15-9 in the final frame. Oakesdale’s match against ACH was the only match that didn’t end in a Nighthawk sweep the entire state tournament.

“We started out strong, and Oakesdale kind of struggled with being inconsistent,” Walsh said. “We realized ‘Wait a second, we can compete with them and not only compete, but compete well.’ That was a big confidence booster getting that first set, and then battled back and forth.”

The loss to Oakesdale sent ACH into a third/fourth-place match against Mossyrock, where the Vikings won closely contested third and fourth sets to claim a 3-1 win over the Warriors.

Mossyrock led 23-16 in the final frame, though the Warriors cut the lead to 23-20 on a four-point run, finished off with an ace by sophomore Naomi Molitor. 

“These girls truly are warriors; they know how to battle, they know how to fight and they do it until the last point,” Walsh said. 

The loss to Oakesdale earlier in the day was tough to shake off, Walsh said.

“The semifinal game kind of took the wind out of us and we had a quick turnaround, so it was hard to rally back,” Walsh said. “I think just them realizing that this is the last time they’re going to be together as a group in this way was affecting them a little bit mentally.”

This year was the ACH’s first state appearance since 2019, making the trip to Yakima even more special for the team’s five seniors.

“It was so surreal,” ACH senior Beth Okamoto said. “The seniors have been waiting for this forever, and to be able to have this team come here was such a special experience for us. You could tell that everyone was trying to soak in every last moment.”

Despite the loss to Mossyrock, ACH still claimed a top-four finish in 1B volleyball this year; the warriors have placed each year they’ve made it to the state tournament since 2012, including top-four placings in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 and now 2023.

“I hope it says that we’re a quality program that is built upon a legacy of excellence,” Walsh said. “We demand a lot out of our athletes, both game-wise and skill-wise, integrity, life skills and all of those things. I think it creates a culture that supports excellence in our area.”

ACH opened the state tournament with a 3-0 sweep of Mount Vernon Christian, winning with set scores of 25-18, 25-15 and 25-19 over the Hurricanes. In the quarterfinals against Mary Walker, the Warriors rallied from an opening-set loss to defeat the Chargers 3-1 and advance to the semifinals.

“We wanted it deep down, and sometimes it didn’t show like that on the court, but when it mattered most we had girls that stepped up in every spot,” Okamoto said.

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

Box Scores

ACH vs Mt. Vernon Christian
MVC: 18-15-19 0
ACH: 25-25-25 3

ACH vs Mary Walker
MW: 25-21-17-22 1
ACH: 14-25-25-25 3

ACH vs Oakesdale
OAK: 20-25-14-25-15 3
ACH: 25-18-25-10-9 2

ACH vs Mossyrock
MSY: 25-17-25-25 3
ACH: 20-25-20-21 1

    Almira/Coulee-Hartline sophomore Naomi Molitor serves the ball against Mossyrock on Thursday.
  

    Almira/Coulee-Hartline senior Beth Okamoto sets the ball for a teammate against Mossyrock Thursday.
  

    Almira/Coulee-Hartline senior Mariah McWalter jumps up with her arms raised to attempt a block.
  

    Almira/Coulee-Hartline junior Emma Whitaker performs a dig against Mount Vernon Christian in the first round of the 1B State Volleyball Tournament.