Lions fall into district consolation

ENTIAT — The District 5 1B volleyball tournament continues to be exciting as the sixth-seeded Moses Lake Christian Academy Lions went on the road to face the second-seeded Entiat Tigers. Though the sets were close throughout the evening, the Lions fell in three sets to the Tigers, sending them into the consolation bracket. 

"We're improving and the end of the season's getting better and better," said Lions Head Coach Dean Spurbeck. "We've had a hard time with these guys, and we actually gave them games in the first two sets. A couple of little things got us; otherwise, it would have been the other way." 

From the very start, the score remained close between the two. Entiat built an 18-15 lead later in the set, but MLCA closed the gap 21-20. 

The Tigers worked once again to build a gap between the teams, but the Lions stayed persistent. Moses Lake had a couple more sparks of energy to keep the game within reach but fell 25-22 by the end of the first set. 

Continuing off the energy from the first set the teams stayed neck and neck with errors on both sides contributing to a close score. The Lions caught stride to build a 12-8 lead, but Entiat held strong. 

The Lions built their lead to 17-12, and Entiat called a timeout to regroup. The Tigers worked to come back into the game following this, but errors and a building intensity on the MLCA side kept the Lions in the lead.  

Despite this, the Tigers found it in them to cut the score down to 21-19 late in the set. The Lions started to waver, which gave Entiat the chance to take the lead at 22-21.  

Moses Lake worked to reset and get back at it, but Entiat caught momentum at the right time to win the set 25-22. 

The third set saw a strong start from Entiat as they built a four-point lead, but MLCA wasn't going down without a fight. The Tigers remained ahead, but the game was still within reach for the Lions at 11-6.  

After MLCA closed the gap to 14-10, Entiat started to gain more traction and put themselves up 17-10. The Lions continued to battle, but the Tigers ended up closing things out at 25-15 to claim the three-set victory. 

"We passed pretty well and so that was nice on serve-receive," said Spurbeck. "We just have to clean up a couple of space outs, and whenever it's tight games and you're playing good teams, those matter." 

The Lions' improvement in the latter half of the season has been the biggest key to finding success so far. After entering the tournament as a lower seed, MLCA held strong to earn a victory over Oroville in the opening round and upset the third seed Garden City Academy last Thursday. 

The coach said this improvement was built from the girls staying consistent in their reps and having a strong mental game. Having the girls concentrate and stay in the right headspace has been crucial, he said. 

"The whole idea is to be better at the end, I mean, we're the sixth-place team. There's only four of us left, so we're there and we gave the number two team a good game and we beat the number one team before," Spurbeck said. "It's just a matter of us getting it together and we had it together pretty good today." 

What's important for the Lions is that their season isn't over yet as they head into the consolation bracket Saturday for a chance to claim second in districts and secure a spot for state.  

"We've got (a few) more practices until Saturday and then hopefully we'll have everything cleaned up," said Spurbeck. 

One major aspect of the game that MLCA has caught on to that was on full display Tuesday was their ability to maintain high energy. 

"We stay up pretty well, and they keep the momentum, so that's helpful," said the coach. 

MLCA's main focus this week will be making sure that they are ready to give their all when Saturday's games come around. To make the state tournament, the Lions will have to win two games in a row, starting with the fifth-seeded Waterville-Mansfield. 

Even coming off a loss Tuesday, Spurbeck said the Lions are still showing constant improvement and it's all coming together at the right time. 

"They're playing their best volleyball when they need to play, so that's good," he said. 

The Lions prepare to head on the road to face Waterville-Mansfield in the Chelan Community Gym Saturday at 1 p.m. The winner of this game will face the loser of Pateros and Entiat's championship matchup at 3 p.m. 

BOX SCORE 

MLCA: 22-22-15: 0 

ENTT: 25-25-25: 3 

    Ava Bishop, a junior from MLCA, leaps up to slam the ball back over the net at Entiat during the district semifinals.
  

    Lions sophomore Mattie Whitaker tips the ball over the net during Tuesday's game against Entiat.
  

    Zoey Ferguson, a sophomore for the Lions, readies herself near the net in preparation for the next serve against Entiat Tuesday.
  

    MLCA senior Abby Stanley gets ready to serve the ball Tuesday evening in the district matchup against Entiat.
  

    Vesta Koethke, a junior for MLCA, responds to a serve from Entiat during Tuesday's postseason matchup.