The Bainbridge High School girls volleyball team took a long road to get to state, but their stay was short-lived.
After upsetting Walla Walla 3-2 in their first match Thursday, they lost to Ferndale 3-0 and then to Bishop Blanchet 3-1 to get knocked out of the State 3A Tournament at the Sundome in Yakima.
The Spartans won their opening marathon match in a bit of an upset as BHS was seeded 19th and Walla Walla 14th. The game scores were 25-16, 25-23, 11-25, 22-25 and 15-8.
BHS then took on third-seeded Ferndale and played better each set but lost 25-17, 25-20 and 25-22.
The Spartans then dropped into the loser’s bracket.
That wasn’t a problem at districts, as they came up through that bracket and ended up placing sixth to qualify for state.
But in Yakima they faced sixth-seeded Bishop Blanchet and lost 25-17, 25-9, 18-25 and 25-14, knocking them out of the tourney.
The week before, just to get into the District 3/4 Volleyball Tournament at Capital High School in Olympia, they beat Gig Harbor 3 games to none in a play-in game.
Then the Spartans beat Lakes 3-0 and Bonney Lake by that same score.
They lost their first district set to Kentlake, but still took that match 3-1.
They didn’t lose until they played for fifth-sixth place, falling to Central Kitsap 3-0. Both teams advanced to state anyway.
Central Kitsap, seeded 15th, also was in a play-in game at state, but lost to 18th seeded Eastside Catholic 3-2 to be knocked out of the tourney.