Bulldogs Bound For Yakima

DAYTON - A stunning come-from-behind victory over Liberty Christian in the district volleyball tourna­ment Saturday crowned the Lady Bulldogs as district champions and sent them to state for the first time since 2005. They will play their first game at the Sundome in Yakima at 9 a.m. on Friday against Wahkiakum. If they win, they will play again at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Darrington vs Kittitas match. If they lose, the Bulldogs will play that game's loser at 7:30 p.m.

"We earned our trip to state ev­ery step of the way," h e a d coach Shannon Turner said. "I'm really proud of those girls." Earlier in the day, the Bulldogs beat DeSales to throw the Irish out of conten­tion

for state and then faced the Patriots who won the first two games by two points 26-24 and 27-25.

"After we lost the first two games by two points, I told the girls they had to dig deep," Turner said. "I told them the power to win had to come from within them­selves, and they had to fight through their tiredness." Dayton took an early lead in the third game and kept building it with good net plays and spectacular digs that extended the length of each volley as both teams reached deep to get ahead. As the suspension built and both teams began to show signs of fatigue, the Bulldogs first saw their lead slipping away but hung on to beat the Patriots 25-20. Suddenly, what had seemed nearly impossible before the start of Game 3 was more than a gleam in the Bulldogs' weary eyes.

In true cliff-hanger fash­ion, the Patriots scored the first few points of Game 4, but the Bulldogs caught up quickly and kept pace with Liberty Christian or stayed slightly ahead until they opened an ever-bigger mar­gin and beat the Tri-Cities team 25-16 by forcing errors and keeping to their three-play setting discipline. "I told the team to stay calm and composed and we'd have a chance to go to state," senior and team cap­tain Kayla Turner said after the game. "We realized we were the better team. We took a deep breath and decided 'this is our game.'" With one more short fifth game standing between them and the district champion­ship, the Bulldogs and their by now fired-up home crowd went to work in earnest, opening up a lead of five unanswered points and stay­ing firmly in control of the game's momentum. At 14-4, the bench and crowd were on their feet, and with the Patriots' last net error drawing the whistle, pandemonium broke out on the court with fans swarming onto the hardwood to greet the Lady Bulldogs, who were jumping with joy and emo­tion after a marathon day of high-stakes competition. "I had confidence in us," Bulldog Darci Hall said amidst clusters of teary-eyed players, parents and fans. "We had been there (down two games) before and we pulled through." Coach Turner, who led the program last time Dayton went to state, said her play­ers, "deserved every point. These girls weren't givin' up anything."

Throughout the tourna­ment, the Bulldogs stayed in sync, showing their athleti­( cism by stretching for balls that seemed out of reach, digging up spikes, blocking shots and forcing errors. Only occasionally did the players have communica­tion problems that cost them points. "Coming back from a two-game deficit is tough on any night, let alone in a district tournament," coach Turner said. "The girls al­ways work very hard at prac­tice, and it paid off."

Dayton vs Liberty Chris­tian 24-26, 27-25, 25-20, 25-16 and 15-4 Nicole Lambert: 26 digs; Kayla Turner: 16 assists, 22 kills; McKayla Bickelhaupt: 17 kills, serving 28/29 with 3 aces; Darci Hall: 29 assists, serving 13/14 with one ace; Amanda Melton: 7 kills, 3 blocks; Shelby Smith serving 19/20 with 2 aces; and Jes­sica Tate: 10 digs.