Kodiak volleyball team rounds back into form after disappointing Sun Dome Tournament

The sting of finishing sixth at the Sun Dome tournament was still fresh on the minds of the Kodiak volleyball team when they played West Seattle on Sept. 18. It was the first official match in the newly remodeled gym. It proved to be much louder than the old gym. No complaints from Head Coach Marni McMahon. 

“It is awesome. It is loud. It’s a pretty nice set up,” McMahon said. 

Cascade rebounded from the tough loss to West Valley at the Sun Tournament to dominate West Seattle 25-12, 25-14, 25-15. 

“I thought they played great. I was disappointed from that one match. We have high expectations and standards. We should have won that match against West Valley. We reviewed what they did wrong,” McMahon said. 

Makena Ala’ilima-Daley had 15 kills and 3 aces. Analia Vasquez had 15 kills and 2 aces. Megan Evans had 4 kills, 19 assists and 5 aces. Evans is changing to the spike jump serve, which is tough to master, but she is coming along, McMahon said. 

“It was a complete team effort. The Kodiaks played a high level fast match with aggressive serving and a spread offense. They did a good job of swinging tough tonight. Setters located the ball better and serve receive kept us in system,” McMahon said. 

Abby Brown had 19 assists. Maddie Schiefelbein had 11 digs. 

“Maddie is really coming along as our libero. She is gaining confidence and holding a strong voice in the back line,” McMahon said. “We have a lot of firepower. If our passing and setting is in place, and we can locate the ball well, we have swingers that can put the ball away. It’s about locating the ball. We did much better with that than we did last Saturday. I was pretty pleased.”

On Sept. 19, Cascade played at always tough Selah, winning in five sets, 22-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 15-8. 

“Very tough match against a good defensive team. Selah is always a tough place to play. We had to work through adversity with tough calls not going our way and a loud crowd. It was really good for the girls to have to work through it. I was pleased with the leadership of Makena Ala ilima Daley and Analia Vasquez. They both stayed consistent and strong. Their play continued to rise as the pressure went on,” she said.  

Daley had 27 kills. Vasquez had 21 kills. Schiefelbein had 14 digs. Ashley Ross had 7 kills and 4 blocks. Brown had 40 assists. 

On Sept. 21, Cascade hosted Okanogan, winning 25-5, 25-13, 25-6. 

“The Kodiaks cleaned up their serving game from last match gaining 18 aces. We were aggressive on the line tonight. We were also able to get our younger kids in all three sets and they did a great job of keeping unforced errors down,” McMahon said. 

Daley had 8 kills and 3 aces. She went 8-for-8 serving. Vasquez had 7 kills and 5 aces. McMahon said Vasquez served tough and low, with good ball speed. Evans had 4 kills, 3 aces and 15 assists. Brown had 15 assists. Schiefelbein had 10 digs and 2 aces. 

“Savannah Akers and sister Natalie Akers combined for 4 kills and 2 blocks. Savannah also served 6-for-6,” McMahon said. “Baelee Pearson had 5 digs. Senior Baelee Pearson continues to show her strength with her defense. Kaitlyn Craig was 11-for-12 serving with 2 kills. Our reserves came off the bench and did a great job showing our team has a lot of depth.”

Cascade (1-0, 6-0) played at Cashmere (0-1, 0-5) on Sept. 26. Results were not available before press time. On Saturday, the girls play at the Sheridan Classic. Next Tuesday, they host Omak. 

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