Cougars fall to Manson, defeat Forks at state tourney

YAKIMA – After clinching a state berth Saturday, the No. 15 seed Warden Cougars faced a touch matchup in the opening round of the 2B State Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday, falling 3-0 to the defending state champion and No. 2 seed Manson. 

Warden followed the loss up with a 3-2 win over No. 10 Forks in the consolation bracket. 

“When you get drawn to play the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the state - and we knew Manson was really, really solid – what we wanted to do was compete with them and leave everything on the court,” head coach Shanna Golladay said.  

It was a slow start for the Cougars, who found themselves down 7-1 early in the opening frame; struggling to string together rallies, Warden dropped the first set to the Trojans 25-7. 

Despite the disheartening score, the Cougars didn’t let it affect them, Golladay said. 

“When the girls came off the court, I was really impressed at how motivated they were on the bench and how uplifting they were to each other,” Golladay said. “They had not given up; it was very much, ‘We can do this, we can play with them. We just need to do A, B and C.’ They’re very good about self-evaluating.” 

Warden took an early 2-1 lead in the second set, stretching that lead to 6-4 as each side traded scores. After tying the set at six, the Trojans mounted a 6-1 scoring run to take a firm grasp of the lead, eventually winning the set 25-19 after a late Warden rally. 

“I’m so proud of our girls, because after that first set they could have easily let the wheels fall off and give away, and they didn’t,” Golladay said. “They fought really hard in that second set; we came out pretty even for the first five or seven points, and you could see that Manson was thinking, ‘Oh, we need to play some volleyball now.’ That’s what we wanted.” 

The two teams were tied at five through the first 10 rallies of the final frame, but the Trojans quickly went on a run to take an 11-5 lead in the set. The deficit was too much to overcome, as the Cougars fell 25-16 to Manson to complete the sweep. 

“Passing is key; the first contact is very important to how the rest of that play is going to go,” Golladay said. “They served us tough; we had some girls that were worn out. We have to get a good first pass – everything we did, we were able to kill the ball ... we’ve been trying to work on our passing a lot, but the nerves get to you, the playing space is shorter, it’s noisy.”

The loss dropped Warden into the consolation bracket, where they faced off against No. 10 Forks later Wednesday afternoon. After dropping the first two sets with scores of 25-20, the latter of which the Cougars held an 18-12 lead in, Warden’s season was on the line in the third set. 

“We had to have some gut checks,” Golladay said. “I know that some of the older girls, you could tell the emotions were getting a little bit high. We talked about that it’s a marathon – and the hardest part of the marathon is the very end. It’s so easy to want to quit.” 

Warden won the third set 25-21 and tied the match at two with a 25-16 win in the fourth set, in which the Cougars held the lead for the entire time. 

A big part of Warden coming back in the match was its effectiveness in the middle of the court, with senior Lauren Chamberlain and sophomore Hannah Roylance standing tall to disrupt Forks on blocks and deliver powerful kills on offense. 

“I thank my great passers and my great setter, because they work so hard – they set it all up for us, and we were able to put it away,” Roylance said. “Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do much.” 

Golladay attributed the success in the middle of the front row to the team’s libero, junior Jamylex Pruneda. 

“She has been so consistent all season long,” she said. “Last year she was a front-row hitter, and she played all the way around ... she was for (making the switch to libero) -- I wasn’t sure she would be, because everyone wants to get the kills. That’s the fun energy.” 

Warden doubled the lead on an ace by junior Amaya Erickson to give the Cougars an 8-4 advantage, eventually holding on for a 15-8 win in the final set to complete the comeback. 

“We were ready to beat them -- ‘Let’s finish this,’” Roylance said. “Let’s just finish and go into the next day. 

The Cougars advanced to play No. 11 Davenport on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. 

Box Scores 

vs Manson 

WRD:  7-19-16 0 

MAN: 25-25-25 3 

vs Forks 

WRD: 20-20-25-25-15 3 

FRK: 25-25-21-16-8 2 

    Warden junior Miranda Martinez receives a serve from Forks on Wednesday at the 2B State Volleyball Tournament in Yakima.
  

    Warden sophomore Hannah Roylance, right, leaps up to block a spike against Manson in the first round of the 2B State Volleyball Tournament.
  

    Warden junior Jamylex Pruneda serves the ball against Manson on Wednesday at the Yakima Valley SunDome.