The No. 1 seed Bainbridge Spartans cruised to the District 3 volleyball title by beating No. 2 seed Washington 3-1 Nov. 8 at North Mason High School.
The Spartans are state-bound and will open up play as the No. 8 seed against No. 9 seed West Valley 2:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Yakima Valley SunDome. Bainbridge only dropped one set in the whole district tournament. Bainbridge went undefeated in the Olympic League in the regular season, with their only loss coming Oct. 22 against Bellevue.
Bainbridge previously beat the No. 5 seed North Kitsap Vikings 3-0 in the semifinals. The Vikings were later eliminated, losing to No. 3 seed Fife 3-1 in a loser-out match.
“Before the match, we were just talking about playing our game and staying really focused on us,” Bainbridge defensive specialist Zariyah Francis said about the win over NK.
Bainbridge established a strong precedent early in the first set against the Vikings, jumping out to an 8-1 lead behind right-side hitters Cate Torrell and Rollin Anderson.
The Vikings began to cut into the Spartans’ lead later on in the set, shrinking the deficit to six at 18-12. Nonetheless, Bainbridge won the first set 25-17 with an Anderson spike to the back of the court.
Bainbridge established the same control they did in the first set in the second set, jumping out to an early 14-5 lead behind outside hitter Zariyah Francis and defensive specialist Farrah Colby, controlling the tempo of the match. The Spartans maintained control of the lead, winning the second set 25-16.
“I feel like the team, we had such good energy, and I feel I contributed to that,” Francis said.
The beginning of the third set proved to be neck and neck, with neither squad jumping out to a substantial lead over the other. Bainbridge once again took control later on, jumping out to a five-point lead at 9-4.
The Spartans continued to dominate when it came to generating offense with Colby, middle hitter Carmen MacCulloch, and Francis controlling the floor for Bainbridge, limiting what NK could do with their own offense. Bainbridge held a 21-9 lead, their largest of the match, in the final set.
Bainbridge eventually won the set 25-12 to win the match.
Other scores
No. 8 seed Kingston lost to No. 4 seed Sequim 3-0 in a loser-out match to be eliminated. The Buccaneers beat No. 9 seed Franklin Pierce 3-2 in their opening match before falling to Bainbridge in the quarterfinals 3-0. No. 11 seed Olympic dropped its opening match 3-0 to No. 6 seed Orting to be eliminated.
Spartan Cate Torrell prepares to spike the ball over the net in a 3-0 Bainbridge win over the North Kitsap Vikings Nov. 8 in the semifinals of the District 3 2A volleyball tournament at North Mason High School.
