BELLINGHAM — For the 37 days since they lost their first Northwest Conference volleyball match in three years, the Burlington-Edison Tigers focused themselves on preparing for a rematch with Lynden in the district championship match.
So it should come as little surprise that the Tigers were ready. Burlington-Edison jumped all over Lynden, coming away with a 25-19, 18-25, 25-14, 25-15 victory Saturday to claim their third straight Northwest 2A District championship.
“This one feels more special,” said senior Kinsey Davis, who started on all three squads. “We came out super focused.”
The day proved fruitful for the Anacortes Seahawks as well. Anacortes swept Sehome 25-12, 25-21, 25-19 in its first match to clinch a state berth. The Seahawks will go as the No. 4 seed after falling 25-17, 25-20, 25-19 to Archbishop Murphy.
“I’m so excited. We definitely played hard,” Seahawks junior Tyler Calles said. “I think our team chemistry has been better this year. We’ve been working as a team.”
Lynden, undefeated and top-ranked among Class 2A teams, swept the Tigers (16-1) during the regular season.
“Ever since that first Lynden game, every practice, every match we’ve been thinking of Lynden,” senior Rachel Tingley said. “We worked really hard for this.”
Davis finished with 31 kills and three blocks to pace the Tigers, finishing the three district matches with 92 kills. Tingley added 12 kills and Katlyn Mataya dished out 37 assists.
“It does feel more special this time,” Tigers coach Tawnya Brewer said. “When no one expects you to win, it’s even sweeter.”
The Tigers held Lynden star and Oregon State recruit Jessi Roberts to 13 kills, blocking or digging the hard-hitting senior repeatedly.
The Tigers took control of the match twice. Midway through the first game, Burlington-Edison rode a wave to Lion errors to a 17-11 advantage. Lynden could get no closer to three the rest of the way.
As has become a pattern, Burlington-Edison struggled in the second game, but reasserted itself quickly in the third by winning 11 of the first 14 points. Davis had six kills, a block and an ace in that stretch.
The fourth game wasn’t quite the early blowout, but a string of nine straight points on Mataya’s serve turned a 12-10 lead into a 21-10 route. Davis had four kills in that run as well.
“I couldn’t have imagined it would go like this,” Brewer said of the lopsided final two games. “I said that to my assistant. We just played relentless defense. We believed the entire match. We made it our goal to stay in the driver’s seat.”
Joining the Tigers in the Tri-Cities will be the Seahawks (13-5), who rallied from five-point deficits in each of the final two games to beat the Mariners.
For the Seahawks, this is the school’s third trip ever to the state tournament. Though they knew they had the potential, getting to state wasn’t a goal the Seahawks set at the beginning of the year.
“I tried to get them to say it,” first-year Seahawks coach Ashley Abrams said. “They said it was more important that they worked at playing together. And they did that.”
Calles finished with six aces and had five kills in a balanced Seahawk attack. Jessica Straight led the way with six kills, with Calles and Connie Grimnes adding five apiece.
The Class 2A State Tournament begins Friday at the Toyota Center in Kennewick and continues through Saturday. Burlington-Edison is aiming to place for the third straight year and bring home the school’s first state title since back-to-back wins in 1981 and 1982.
“We’re going to keep focused,” Davis said. “We’re going to go as far as we can.”
Anacortes’ last trip came in 2005, which was also the Seahawks only time placing. They finished fifth.
“We want to take it a step at a time,” Calles said, “and play every game like it’s our last game.”
• Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or by e-mail at
