Cascade volleyball team ends memorable season with a second place finish at state

The Cascade Kodiak volleyball team came into the State 1A Volleyball Tournament at the Yakima Sun Dome as one of the favorites to win the title along with Lakeside, Kings and Lynden Christian. 

Cascade matched up against La Center on the opening day of the tournament last Friday. The Kodiaks prevailed in straight sets, 25-23, 25-16, 25-20. Later that evening, Cascade faced Kiona-Benton in the quarterfinals. The Kodiaks won again in straight sets, 25-15, 25-15, 25-23. 

That set up a semifinal rematch against Chelan last Saturday. The Goats had not beaten the Kodiaks in years, including three previous times this season. Still, Chelan was coming off a big five-set win over Charles Wright Academy the previous night. 

In the first set, Chelan staked out an early lead, but the Kodiaks came back and held a one or two point lead most of the way. The Kodiaks won 25-20. In the second set, Chelan held an 18-15 lead, but the Kodiaks came storming back to win 25-19. 

In the third game, behind the strong serving from Maddie Schiefelbein, Cascade streaked out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back, winning the set and the match, 25-11. 

“We definitely stepped up our game. Certain parts of the game were not good. Defensively, we executed the game plan perfectly. We knew exactly what they were going to do and we were right there to execute it,” said Cascade Head Coach Marni McMahon. 

Even though Cascade was playing Chelan for a fourth time, McMahan said they studied a lot of film. 

“We really tried to mindful. We already knew what they do. We were just going through the motions on it. We weren’t really grasping it. We made sure they knew that we knew exactly what they were doing. We were talking across the net, trying to get in their heads a little bit. We were more mindful,” McMahon said. 

McMahon said Chelan did come to play, like they always do. 

“It’s a Cascade-Chelan thing. I just think they kind of gave up at the end. They definitely had a good state tournament. They are going to take home a third or fourth place trophy. For Chelan, that is fantastic,” she said. 

Chelan did win a fourth place trophy. 

Kings, a Seattle area private school, came into the finals with a lot of firepower. Cascade needed to play their very best game to win, but it didn’t happen. In the first game, behind the hitting from sophomore outside hitter Alli Hanson, King’s won the opening set 25-12. 

In the second set, Cascade did not forge a lead until 12-11. From there, they held onto the lead for the tight 25-23 win. That set up a very intense third set. Kings led the whole way, eventually winning 25-21. 

In the final game, the Kodiaks had no answers, losing 25-10. 

“King’s played a very good match. They are a great team. We have to play our best, and we just didn’t. Kings came out fired up. They have a lot of offensive threats. We need to be able to pass well. We didn’t have our best game. It was a bad time to have a poor game. The better team won. They definitely came out put up better numbers than we did,” McMahon said. 

Had Cascade been able to prevail in the third set, it might have been different. 

“If we had won that third set, and not made those three errors in that last phase of game, it might have been a different outcome. We would have had the momentum into the fourth set. Having those errors lost a lot of momentum for us,” she said. 

Even thought Cascade fell short of their goal of winning the championship, McMahon is happy with their tournament results. 

“I’m super proud of these kids. I know their number one goal was to bring home the big trophy. They were pretty upset about that. I told them, not many teams can go 19-1. You put up a lot of banners. You had a great state tournament,” McMahon said. “We didn’t play a good match, but we beat La Center. We played well against Kiona-Benton and Chelan, except for the serving errors. All in all, I was pleased, reflecting back on the year. They worked really hard. No reason to hang their heads.”

McMahon is stepping down as coach after 16 extremely successful seasons, including a 2013 state championship. She felt the emotion of it all made have affected her team. 

“Me saying goodbye to them. My seniors, that being their last match. The combination of both those things I think is what made it more emotional. Most teams would be pretty happy with second place in state,” she said. “You add those things together, that is why it was hard and difficult. I know the girls will look back on it and be proud of what they did.”

Even though she is stepping down as coach, McMahon plans to stay involved with game. 

“I’m going to help out the club as much as I can. I’m really going to focus on my daughter. She’ll be on the Kodiak team and a travel team. I will focus on that. I will support the Cascade Volleyball program. I’m their biggest fan,” McMahon said. “Probably have more time for family. We’ll see what lies ahead. Maybe doing some training and camps later on. I won’t be out of the gym, just different.” 

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