Volleyball Trips on Playoff Opener - By Josh Woodard
The Richland Bombers took on the Central Valley Bears in Spokane on Wednesday night. The Bombers came into the game with a 12-6 record and being ranked the number 22 team in the state for 4A. The Bears are 8-13 and are ranked 26 in the state. The last time these two teams played was in the 2017-18 volleyball season, with Richland winning three to zero. This was an outstanding game between these two teams, with the Bears defeating the Bombers in four sets.
This game between the Bombers and the Bears was truly a battle. The energy was ecstatic, which is due to the CV student section. Central Valley had more students than normal because the Richland football team knocked them out of the playoffs the night before. Richland and Central Valley both came out strong in the first set. They were matching each other's punches. Every time Richland scored, here came the Bears with an answer. Jenna Holm, a senior outside hitter, was huge for the Bombers all night. Holm came out strong, getting three kills in the first set. The score was tight, with no team wanting to give up any easy points. Later in the set, the Bomber would call a timeout, finding themselves down 21-17. Coming out of the timeout, Aubrey Hudson finds the hardwood on an incredible spike. In the very next play, Gracie Moss and Hudson team up for a block, which gets the Bomber team and fans excited. The Bears would then string a couple of points together, one of them being a kill from Tatyana Jennings, making the score 24-22. After a wonderful tip from Moss, Malia Hanes would serve an ace, tying up the game. Central Valley would go on to score the next two points and win the first set 26-24.
The second set had the same kind of feel as the first. Richland High found themselves down three points early, then setter Christine Rew laid a beautiful dump right over the Central Valley blockers, scoring a point for the Bombers. When I got a chance to speak with Rew about the game and how she felt it went, she said, “ I felt like we put up a good fight, but we didn’t play to our full potential.” She would then complement teammate Emmerson White, who had a great game for the Bombers. I also asked Rew what her takeaways were from the game, and she said the team needs to keep the energy consistent because they play way better when they have high consistent energy. Rew also added how they will be implementing more consistent energy into practice to help them in the future. Emmerson White, who Rew just mentioned, had a monster second set, adding back-to-back kills after the Rew dump. White added a third spike later in the set, which would even the score at 17. The Bears outlasted the Bomber again, winning 25-20. Set number three started way different than the first two. Richland is now down 2-0 and needed to get something going. The start of the set didn’t look promising as the Bombers went down 8-3. The Bomber would battle back, and after a Moss and White attack, Richland would find themselves tied 10-10. As the set continued, Hudson would break the tie at 19 with a huge spike, and then a couple points later, she would stuff the Central Valley attack, making it 22-19. Richland would hang on and win 25-20.
Dominate was the only word to describe how the Bomber started the fourth set. They started this set on a 6-0 run, with Hanes serving an ace and Holm doing what she does best: continuously spiking the ball. Holm would later serve an ace, making the score 11-2, causing the Bears to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Bombers added three more points, but this is where things started to go downhill. The Central Valley Bears showed no quit as Spikes from Jennings and Keilee Eskelsen sparked the comeback for the Bears. Richland High would have too many mistakes, which allowed for a comeback. The final score was 25-23, and the Bombers fell 3-1 to Central Valley.
After the game, I got a chance to speak with Richland Bomber head coach Valarie Anderson, and I asked her what she liked about the Bomber's performance last night and she replied, “ I really liked our ability to serve receive and pass off of the serve.” I also asked what the Bombers needed to work on, and she said, “ positive team energy and minimizing mental errors.” Richland will face Pasco High on Saturday in a loser-out game.
