The Spartans rally from defeat to bounce Seattle Prep for a

trip to Kennewick.

RENTON – After more than five hours of bodies hitting the floor for digs and hands turned red from serve after serve, an exhausted Bainbridge volleyball team finally got what it wanted: another trip to State.

The Spartans swept Seattle Prep by the scores of 25-15, 25-11 and 25-20 to win fifth place and earn the fifth seed from District 2 in the 3A Sea-King District 2 tournament Saturday at Liberty High School.

The win followed a tournament win over the Newport Knights by 22-25, 23-25, 25-7, 25-8 and 15-12, and a loss to Skyline Spartans, 23-25, 25-17, 20-25 and 25-19.

It’s the fifth straight year Bainbridge has made it to the state tournament, to be held this weekend in Kennwick.

“We were ready for anything,” head coach Julie Miller said. “I think we knew that we might have to go that way, so that helped a little bit. We had every scenario covered.”

Against Newport, Bainbridge struggled against 6-foot-5 middle blocker Lauren Barfield, who was the difference in the first two wins for the Knights.

Things took a 180-turn for the Spartans in the third game.

Bainbridge took a 2-0 lead, but Newport tied it at two. Outside hitter Hannah Stuart put the Spartans back ahead with a kill, then Newport committed a couple of errors and the wheels came off.

Meanwhile, the Spartans turned white hot, as Stuart, Kelcey Dunaway and Marijke Schwarz-Smith spiked and blocked their way to a win.

Newport committed 11 errors in the game and were even whistled for a illegal substitution when they couldn’t make a player switch in time.

Stuart scored match point on a kill.

“The first two games we were feeling out the other team,” said Spartan setter Ally Post. “We didn’t make changes in the first game like we should have, but in the second we started playing against them. We figured out the way to beat them.”

In the fourth game, the two teams traded leads early, but Post scored the go-ahead point on an ace and Bainbridge got on a roll again.

The Spartans reeled off eight straight points and later an 11-point run, punctuated by four Stuart aces and a Dominique Atherley block and a kill that was partially blocked, but rolled on the net and over for the score. Newport committed an error on match point.

“We did get some breaks, which was nice,” Post said.

The fifth game saw Newport take the lead early and go up 10-4, but after a time out, Bainbridge worked their way back to tie the game on blocks and kills by Dunaway and Schwarz-Smith, an ace by Lindsey Bratonia and a Newport error.

Schwarz-Smith scored the go-ahead point on an ace, then Dunaway put away another kill and the Knights committed another error to take it to match point.

Newport scored a point on a return, but after a rally by both sides, Daron Vandelur found a hole in the Knight defense to put one over for the game-winning score and send the team into a celebration.

“That was such a gutsy, gutsy thing by all the girls,” Miller said. “We really struggled in the first two games, but I have seen stuff like this happen. We had nothing to lose, so they realized that and we went all out. I think that took some pressure off and they just worked.”

Against Skyline, an emotionally drained Spartan team split the first two games, but couldn’t overcome the rocket right arm of Bizzy Williams as they lost the third game.

Down 23-10 in the fourth game, Bainbridge went on a 9-1 run to cut the lead down, but Stuart’s serve went out of bounds on match point.

Against Prep, Bainbridge easily won the first two games before finding themselves down 18-11 in the third game after a Panther ace and two Spartan errors.

But Post said they weren’t worried.

“They’re a good team but I think we knew we could beat them,” she said. “We’ve beaten them twice in the (regular) season, so (we said) ‘It’s just Seattle Prep. We can beat them.’

“There’s nothing scary coming over the net. Just play.”

Sure enough, Bainbridge came back to take the lead on kills by Stuart and Atherley, four aces by Dunaway and some errors by Prep.

On match point, the two teams went through a furious rally with some nice digs before Hillary Grant found a hole in the Prep defense and knocked the ball over for the winning score to start the celebration.

Post is glad the team could make it back to the state tournament, but she isn’t making any predictions.

“I just think we’re happy to be going,” she said. “We’re not too worried about the outcome. We’ll play our hardest and do the best we can, but we’re happy to go. It’s been a long road (back.)”

Entering state tourney play, Bainbridge plays Sumner, the number one seed out of District 3, Friday morning at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.