Lady Mules punch ticket to state tourney

It must have been about four hours of passing, setting, and hitting but the Wahkiakum Mules went the distance and played 10 sets of volleyball on Tuesday night to earn a berth to the State 2B tournament in Yakima on November 8 and 9.

District play began on Saturday. The Lady Mules split games, first beating Northwest Christian out of Lacey, Wash., in three sets: 25-11, 25-19, and 25-18 and then losing to the number one Pacific League team, Ocosta in four sets: 31-33, 15-25, 25-14, and 19-25.

The loss sent them to the loser’s bracket where they would need to win the next two matches to continue their season.

At 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the Lady Mules, who lost to Napavine twice this season, managed to beat the Tigers in five sets: 25-12, 22-25, 25-13, 22-25, and 15-8.

While Napavine got ready to go home, the Lady Mules got ready for their second match of the evening against Willapa Valley. The Vikings beat Raymond earlier that afternoon to advance.

The Lady Mules held on to beat the Vikings in five sets: 25-21, 19-25, 25-18, 21-25, and 15-13.

The district tournament continues on Saturday. Kalama and Ocosta will battle for first and second, while Mossyrock, Morton/White Pass, Toutle Lake and Wahkiakum fight for third, fourth, fifth and sixth place. All six teams will go to state.

Wahkiakum is scheduled to play Toutle Lake on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Adna. The winner will play again at 1 p.m. for third and fourth place. A coin toss will determine fifth and sixth place for the two losing teams.