White River girls fourth in state 2A volleyball

The Hornets won twice on Friday and lost twice on Saturday to cap an impressive season.

The White River High girls delivered fourth-place honors back to Buckley following last weekend’s Class 2A state volleyball tournament.

The Hornets won twice on Friday and lost twice on Saturday to cap an impressive season. It was the first time since 2011 White River played in the trophy round at state.

The Hornets wound up 20-2 on the season. That included a perfect 14-0 record in South Puget Sound League 2A play and a three-game run through West Central District tourney play.

Coach Lina Randall loses only two seniors from this year’s varsity roster.

The state tournament, staged at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, saw the Hornets defeat Selah and Ridgefield on Day 1 of the state tournament. Neither came easy, as White River went three long games to defeat Selah 25-22, 25-21, 25-18. Then, against the talented Spudders, the Hornets were pushed to a rare four-game outing before prevailing in exciting fashion 25-21, 17-25, 25-21, 25-23.

Against Selah, Keegan Strobeck had 13 kills and five digs and Kendall Bird added 10 kills. Megan Vandegrift came up with 11 digs and Hope Baldyga registered 28 assists.

Bird came up huge against Ridgefield with 26 kills while Baldyga had 50 assists and Vandegrift had 25 digs. Strobeck was again a factor with 14 kills and 18 digs.

The state talent really surfaces by the semifinal rounds and the Hornets found the road a bit too tough, getting swept 3-0 in both of Saturday’s matches. The Hornets fell to Woodland 25-16, 25-17, 25-11 to drop into a battle for third and fourth place. In that season finale, White River fell to Archbishop Murphy 25-18, 25-10, 25-17.

White River girls fourth in state 2A volleyball