Cascade volleyball team gets favorable draw at state tournament

The Cascade Kodiak volleyball team has received a favorable draw in the state tournament, which starts on Friday at the Sun Dome in Yakima. 

“I think it’s fantastic. It’s the kind of draw every coach hopes for. Anything can happen at state. These girls need to work hard,” said Marni McMahon, Cascade head coach. 

Aside from Cascade, the top quality teams in the mix include Lakeside, Kings and Lynden Christian. All those teams are in the top bracket, Cascade is in the bottom bracket. 

“We would only face one of those in the championship. It’s a good draw not to have to face one of those teams in the prelims or semis,” McMahon said. “That’s the best draw I’ve ever had.”

Cascade starts state on Friday against La Center. To run the table at state, McMahon said will take a lot of discipline. 

“There’s a lot to work on. A lot to apply at state. Some real serious focus and diligence. Just because we have a good draw, we’ll be the target in the bottom bracket. We just have to take it one match at a time,” McMahon said. 

Cascade rival Chelan is also in the bottom bracket. Those two teams, if they kept winning, would meet in the semifinals. Cascade and Chelan played on Nov. 2 in the Caribou Trail League District Champion game. The Kodiaks had beaten the Goats in straight sets two times this season. 

In game 1, behind some strong serving, the Goats forged to an 11-7 lead. Cascade would eventually rally to tie the game at 18-18. Still the Goats went ahead 24-21. The Kodiaks fought off three match points to tie at 24-24. 

Cascade finally prevailed 27-25. The Kodiaks cruised in the second game, leading all the way to the final 25-20 set victory. In the third game, Chelan forged ahead 10-3 and would not relinquish the lead, finally winning their first set over Cascade 25-22. 

In the fourth game, the Kodiaks forged ahead 11-4 and did not look back, winning 25-20. McMahon said that was the best Chelan had served against them. 

“They served great and we passed poor. We have to give them credit for the game they brought. Super disappointed with our passing game. We’re much better than that. We are going to have those nights when we are not passing well and that was one of them,” 

McMahon said it was good to have a game like this before state. 

“We’re disappointed in our passing game. We have a lot of work to do. These girls are tenacious. They work real hard. There’s no doubt they could do it. It was really good to be challenged tonight. That will help motivate us. Kick us in the butt going into next week,” McMahon said. 

Good serving and playing from behind is something the Kodiaks will see against the good teams at state. McMahon said they practice these scenarios a lot. 

“We do that every other day in practice. We have situations. We have a score on the clock and we’re down and they have to come back and win. We’ve been in those situations a lot. That really helped coming into this game, being down in those two sets. I said, how many times have you done this, this week? You’ve been here, you know this. Remain calm and run the offense,” McMahon said. 

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.