Bulldogs Fall To Loggers And Grizzlies

YAKIMA - The Lady Bulldogs came home emp­ty handed from their state playoffs here Saturday. They were knocked out of the tour­nament

after winning their first match Friday but losing the two that followed later that day and on Saturday.

Still, just getting to the giant SunDome with its fivenonstop-volleyball courts, and teams and hometown crowds from all over the state was the well-deserved cap on a winning season for the team that took the district title at home a week before. "We improved a lot," sophomore McKayla Bick­elhaupt said. "We fought and kept winning. It was a lot of fun."

Particularly in the first playoff game in Yakima, the girls, "played like veterans," despite their youth, head coach Shannon Turner said. "None of them had ever been to state. I was very proud of them." To have gone as far as they did as young as they are (the team has only two seniors - Amanda Melton and Kayla Turner) bodes well for next year, she said. "We'll be back and stronger" in 2011.

It may even be good for the upcoming basketball season since all but the two seniors will be playing that sport as well this school year. At state, the Bulldogs got a lot of court time and showed they could compete, Turner said. The Bulldogs beat their first opponent, Wahkiakum, in three games 25-19, 25-12 and 25-19. Though they came out looking a bit nervous at first, the girls quickly settled into their practiced discipline and built substantial leads of unanswered points in games two and three. The 5 p.m. game against a taller and tougher Darrington didn't go as well. The bar­rage of Loggers spikes and the frustration of seeing their own hard-fought balls dug up from the other side of the net led to a breakdown in discipline, unforced errors and miscommunication in mid court.

"We beat ourselves," Turner said. "We hesitated and didn't do our job at the net. We never got our offense going."

Granted, the green-clad Loggers had a few inches in average height over the Bull­dogs and hit the ball harder, but, "our sets weren't where they normally are," Turner said. Dayton lost the first game 25-17, then won the second 26-24, but gave up the last two 25-14 and 25-19. "We weren't scrappy enough on defense and didn't communicate as well as we did against Wahkiakum," Bickelhaupt said. "We went into the game thinking we'd already lost because those girls were so much taller." After that, the team from Bear Creek seemed even big­ger and better on Saturday, Bickelhaupt said. Although Dayton won the first game 25-21, the Bull­dogs lost the last three games 25-14, 25-22 and 25-12. "Bear Creek took a pretty big lead in the fourth game of the match with a pretty domi­nant front row," Turner said. In the last game, "we stopped communicating and things went downhill from there," Bickelhaupt said. "I don't know what happened. I think some of us got ahead of ourselves after we won the first game." But at least now, "we know what state is like," the sophomore said. "It was a good experience for our team. Hopefully, we'll go back again."

Dayton vs Wahkiakum

25-19, 25-12 and 25-19

Kayla Turner: 12 kills, 8 assists, 19/20 serving with 5 aces; McKayla Bickelhaupt: 12 kills, 17/18 serving with 4 aces; Nikki Lambert: 10 digs; Darci Hall: 10 assists.

Dayton vs Darrington

17-25, 26-24, 14-25 and 19-25

Kayla Turner: 8 kills, 7 assists, 11/11 with 2 aces; Amanda Melton: 4 kills, 3 blocks, McKayla Bickelhaupt: 5 kills; Darci Hall: 9 assists; Nikki Lambert: 18 digs; and Jessica Tate: 7 digs.

Dayton vs Bear Creek

25-21, 14-25, 22-25 and 12-25

McKayla Bickelhaupt: 13 kills, 12/13 serving with 3 aces and 7 digs; Kayla Turner: 15/16 serving with 3 aces, 7 digs and 7 kills; Nikki Lambert: 17 digs.