HS Volleyball: Adna sends message with 3-0 win over Rainier in Central 2B action

10/8/2024

Adna 3, Rainier 0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-17)

(Adna, WA) Adna and Rainier are not traditional rivals but one has been brewing since last season on the volleyball court. Both teams made it to state in the Yakima SunDome last season where Adna was the #1 seed and Rainier #9. The 2 got through the 1st round and faced off in the quarterfinals where Rainier stunned the top seeded Pirates 3-2 to move onto the semi’s and Adna dropped into the consolation. In the end, Rainier lost in the semi’s and would finish 4th while the Pirates battled back to win their final 2 matches and secured the 5th place trophy.

Tuesday night the two teams faced off in an early Central 2B Clash of Titans with the Mountaineers 8-1 on the season and #2 in the RPI rankings. Adna was 8-0 and #1 in the RPI so you couldn’t have a bigger mid-season match if you wanted to.

Set 1 Back and Forth

Adna and Rainier came out in the 1st set and it was a true back and forth with neither team getting a big advantage. The largest lead was 3 by either team. As they reached the 17 point level Rainier led 17-15 and a serve from Katelyn Eckroth got set up beautifully by the Adna defense and Danika Hallom ripped a shot for a kill to give the point to Adna. This led to the teams tied at 18-18, 19-19 when the Pirate’s Kendall Humphrey took-over at the service line. Humjphrey and the attacking offense pushed the lead to 22-19. That was the key they needed as they battled it out with Adna prevailing 25-22.

Set 2 A set of Runs

In set 2 the Pirates sprinted out to a huge lead and looked like they were going to run away with it. Adna’s 1st server Karsyn Freeman ran off 6 straight points with 4 aces to go up 7-1 when she turned the serve over. Adna would then take the next 2 points to go up 9-1.

It was the Mountaineers turn to make their run and they did it by grinding away at that deficit. 5 of the next 6 Rainier servers scored at least 1 point while only 1 of the Pirates next 6 serves ended in a single point and all of a sudden it was 17-16 and Rainier had the lead going on a 16-7 run. Janess Blackburn served those big points to take the lead with great up front help from Brooklyn Swenson, Anika Plowman and Allyson Ooms.

The Pirates caught their breath and as soon as they fell behind evened the match at 17-17 and then McKenna Torrey for the Pirates served up 4 points flor a 21-17 lead. Gaby Guard and libero Jaylee Humphrey were big during that run. Adna held that distance to a 25-21 second set win to go up 2-0.

Set 3 Mid-set surge dooms Mountaineers

In the 3rd set Adna again raced out to an early 4-0 lead. Rainier did not allow the Pirates to get more and battled back to tie the match at 12-12. They went back and forth to a 15-15 tie. Adna’s Gaby Guard tookover at the line with a slim 16-15 lead when between her serves, great net play and aggressive offense the Pirates surged to a 23-15 lead. Bailey Chapman had a couple of big blocks to lead the defense. Adna then put the set and match away with a big kill shot from Danika Hallom and Adna won it 25-17 for the 3-0 sweep.

Records and what’s next

With the win Adna improves to 9-0 on the season and 1-0 in league play. They will next host Mossyrock on Thursday at 7pm. Rainier drops to 8-2 overall and 1-1 in league play. The Mountaineers are also at home on Thursday with Toledo coming to town also at 7pm.

The Thorbeckes MVP

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the match went to Karsyn Freeman. Freeman was dominant plastering several kill shots plus that incredible run at the service line which was the difference in set 2. Danika Hallom and Gaby Guard both were in the runnng as well. The MVP always goes to the winning team and had Rainier won Anika Plowman and Janess Blackburn would have been the leading contenders.

Link to watch the full replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)

ESN talks with game MVP Karsyn Freeman