Volleyball: Selah rolls into semifinals

KENNEWICK — There’s just no keeping Selah’s volleyball team down. And least of all Erin Smith.

After getting crushed in the opening set — and despite falling behind by big early margins in the third and fourth sets — the Vikings never lost their edge and fought their way to a 3-1 quarterfinal victory over Burlington-Edison in the Class 2A state tournament Friday night.

Natalie Flickes of Selah, center, and her teammates celebrate their victory over Burlington-Edison after a close match during at the 2A state volleyball tournament, held at the Toyota Center in Kennewick on Friday, November 21, 2008. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic) MORE PHOTOS BELOW

And leading the tough-as-nails charge was Smith, who suffered a pulled ligament in her left ankle on Thursday. Ignoring the pain and her tightly wrapped foot, the junior middle put down 16 kills and had six blocks in the 12-25, 25-20, 25-22, 27-25 win.

“It took a while but we came together as a team and played like we can,” Smith said. “That’s a good team and they jumped on us a little. But we run drills where we’re down six, seven points and it teaches us to limit mistakes and fight for every point. We don’t give up.”

Once the first-set humbling was over, Selah coach Kay Aberle had a few choice words for a team she knew could play much better.

“To be honest, I asked how it felt to get their butts kicked. They didn’t like it at all,” Aberle said. “There were things we knew we could clean up, like serving errors and passing errors. We just needed to get back to the way we played all season.”

In a rematch of last year’s quarterfinals, which Selah won in five en route to its third straight state title, Burlington’s quick offense ran most of its attacks through super-athlete Kinsey Davis, who pummeled first-round opponent Hockinson for 36 kills.

Davis was indeed a force early and she did produce a match-high 25 kills, but Selah’s blocking and defense slowed her significantly in the third and fourth sets. During one rally sequence in the deciding set, Davis took four good swings but couldn’t find the floor.

“We watched them against Hockinson and we could see they were quick. So we decided we would try to hold together and tire them out,” said Aberle, whose team started the day with a 25-13, 25-13, 25-11 win over Sequim. “Our girls have a good mentality for that kind of game.”

Burlington-Edison, which beat Lynden for the Northwest District title, had leads of 5-0 in the third set and 9-2 in the fourth.  But neither lead held as Natalie Fickes sparked the hard-working defense with 17 digs. She also collected 22 assists, setting up Smith’s 16 kills and Kierstin Wilson’s 14 scoring strikes.

Once Selah caught the Tigers in the fourth set at 18-18, a sideout battle ensued. The set was tied at each point until 25-25, when Wilson put down a kill to take the lead for good.

With a 17-match win streak in state tournament play, Selah will now face Black Hills in today’s semifinals at 2 p.m. The championship final is set for 6:30 p.m.

Selah highlights

Quarterfinal vs. Burlington-Edison: Kierstin Wilson 14 kills, 9 digs; Erin Smith 16 kills, 8 digs, 6 blocks; Natalie Fickes 22 assists, 17 digs, 3 kills; Jamie Alliston 10 assists, 9 digs; Kellie Jones 2 aces.

First round vs. Sequim: Smith 15 kills, 5 blocks; Wilson 15 kills; Miranda Gunvaldson 15 digs; Fickes 19 assists; Alliston 12 assists; Jones 3 aces, 6 digs.