Lady Braves follow familiar path to State net tourney

They’ve been down this road before — often, in fact.

That being the La Conner High volleyball team’s annual trek to the State Tournament in Yakima, the latest trip booked last week by virtue of twin Tri-District playoff wins in Raymond.

The Lady Braves return to Raymond today, Wednesday, for a date with top-ranked Napavine, an ideal tune-up for their pending drive to the Sun Dome.

“We go back to Raymond to play Napavine for seeding at State,” La Conner head coach Suzanne Marble said Sunday. “The travel prepares us to play on the road at State.”

La Conner clinched a spot in this year’s State tourney bracket by defeating Tri-District foes Adna and Onalaska.

The win over Adna was in straight-sets. Onalaska pushed La Conner to four sets.

The final line score in the Adna match was 25-18, 25-13, 25-21. The Lady Braves prevailed over Onalaska 25-14, 25-27, 25-13, 25-8.

“It was the first time since September that we went four (sets) with a team,” Marble noted after the Onalaska match. “It was a good opportunity to see how we would react after a close loss in the second set.”

That reaction proved positive, a testimony to La Conner’s team chemistry.

“I was very pleased,” Marble stressed, “with how the team rebounded and came out stronger in sets three and four to put the match away.”

All elements — serving, offense, and defense — were aligned in the late going against Onalaska.

Olivia Hedlund ignited the La Conner attack with 39 assists, four kills, and a pair of service aces.

A prime beneficiary of Hedlund’s playmaking was Leanne Swan, who paced the Lady Braves with 13 kills.

“She was definitely a force for us,” said Marble.

Ditto Ashley Watkins.

Watkins recorded 12 kills, three blocks, and 18 digs.

“She really stepped up in this match and took on a lot of responsibility,” Marble said of Watkins afterward.

Fittingly, sisters Nicole and Heather Henriksen nearly matched one another on the stat sheet.

Nicole delivered 25 serves without a miss, four of which were aces. Heather was also perfect on 25 service attempts, three of them aces.

Nicole added 25 digs and went 23 of 24 on serve receive opportunities. Heather contributed 21 digs and 10 kills.

Kamea Luna and Matty Lagerwey chipped in four blocks apiece. They added eight and three kills, respectively.

The 3-0 victory over Adna got La Conner going the right direction in Raymond.

The Lady Braves relied on playoff experience and roster depth to advance to the second round and the pivotal match with Onalaska.

“We struggled a bit on defense against Adna,” Marble conceded, “but the thing about this team is when one player is having difficulty, someone else steps up. We’re fortunate to have a deep bench and competitive players.”

The Lady Braves helped themselves further by keeping the pressure on Adna via near flawless serving. La Conner put 97 percent of its serves in play, with Hedlund tallying five aces.

La Conner was coming off a win over Orcas in the regular season finale for both clubs and District Tournament decisions over NW2B rivals Darrington and Friday Harbor.

By downing Orcas, the Lady Braves finished the regular campaign with a 14-0 mark and wrapped up their 14th straight league title.

The State 2B Tournament is slated for Nov. 13 and 14.

Plenty of work remains between now and then, said Marble, including the key test with Napavine.

“The teams we meet now,” she pointed out, “will only get better and better.”