BURLINGTON — The Burlington-Edison volleyball team won’t be the No. 1 seed at the Northwest 2A District Tournament for the first time in several years, but the Tigers made sure they won’t be any lower than second.
The Tigers survived a third-game hiccup to beat Anacortes 25-17, 25-9, 17-25, 25-17 Wednesday in a Northwest Conference match and secure the No. 2 seed. Undefeated Lynden, which handed Burlington-Edison (12-1 conference, 13-1 overall) its only conference loss in the past three seasons, will be the top seed.
“We’re ready. We’ve been ready for a while,” Tigers coach Tawnya Brewer said. “Other than (the third game), this was the best we’ve played all season.”
The Seahawks (10-3, 11-3) will go in to next week’s tournament as the No. 3 seed. The eight-team tournament will send four teams to state.
“I think this was a good tuneup (for districts),” Anacortes coach Ashley Abrams said. “We haven’t played anybody like this really for quite a while.”
Kinsey Davis had 29 kills for the Tigers, extending her Burlington-Edison single-season and career records in the categories. Rachel Tingley added 10 blocks and Katlyn Mataya dished out 39 assists for the Tigers.
The Tigers jumped out to big leads in every game, pulling ahead 12-1 in the first game, 9-1 in the second, 9-4 in the third game and 10-3 in the fourth.
In the first, second and fourth games, Burlington-Edison cruised to victories. The third was a different story.
“We’ve been having trouble with one game,” Tigers senior Ariel Dykstra said. “Usually it’s the second.”
Trailing 9-4, Anacortes ran off the next 12 straight points on Kate Murray’s serve to turn the blowout around. After three Tiger points, the Seahawks ripped off six straight to put the game away.
“Our focus was to make sure we didn’t let down in the second game,” Brewer said. “We did well that game, but it ended up being the third.”
Tyler Calles led Anacortes with 12 kills. Hannah Holgeerts finished with six kills and three of the Seahawks’ nine blocks. Monica Archer also had three blocks.
“It was great to see that we came back in the third game, but we’ve played better,” Abrams said.
• Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or by e-mail at
