Lady Mules face tough competition at state VB

The Wahkiakum Mules volleyball team traveled to the State 2B tournament which took place in Yakima last Thursday and Friday. The Lady Mules lost their first two matches in the double elimination tournament and ended their season on Thursday.

They started Thursday with a three set loss to Colfax.

“We played pretty well against this team,” Coach Kayli Hurley said. “Prior to the tournament they hadn’t lost a single set and I feel like we held our own against them despite our loss.”

Later that day, the Lady Mules faced Lind-Ritzville in the consolation bracket and lost in four sets in a loser out match.

“This wasn’t our best game,” Coach Hurley said, “and if we would have been a bit more consistent, we likely could have pulled this one out. However, they simply outplayed us.

As for the team and the season, Hurley was pleased.

“Overall, I'm so proud of this team and their growth over the season,” she said. “Starting out with a big string of losses could have given them license to give up early. Clearly they didn’t, as evidenced by the huge leap in both volleyball skills and mental toughness.

"We will really miss the seniors graduating this year and it was so fun to watch them get to step into and fill big roles with this team as players and leaders.

"Looking to the future, we started this year to build a solid foundation upon which to continue improving this summer and next season. I look forward to seeing how far the remaining girls work to take the program.”

It was the final season of volleyball for seniors Megan Leitz, Courtney Carlson, and Emerald Niemela.