Bellarmine Prep's volleyball team cross item off list

Bellarmine Prep’s volleyball team began its season with a list of goals.

Saturday, it checked off “advance to state” with a 3-1 win over Narrows League rival Olympia in the West Central District 4A volleyball tournament at Kentwood High School.

“This has been one of the goals since the beginning,” said Lions coach Jody DeGroot, “but we have focused on one goal at a time, so they get to check this off on Monday.”

The Lions easily won the first two games, 25-16 and 25-19, but fell to the Bears, 22-25, in the third. A 25-19 win in game four clinched the win – and Bellarmine Prep’s first district title.

Earlier in the day, Bellarmine Prep defeated Puyallup, 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 20-25, 15-11).

The Vikings later clinched the district’s No. 3 seed with a 3-2 win (25-21, 22-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-9) over No. 4 Kentwood, which lost in the semifinals to Olympia, 21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 27-25.

DeGroot said that the final four were all quality teams, and that she told her players, “This is what it’s like from here on out – no easy wins.”

Bellarmine Prep defeated Olympia without setter Katy DeGroot, who took a knee to the head while going for a dig at the beginning of the second game. The Lions traditionally play two setters. DeGroot said the junior was checked out and appeared to have not suffered a concussion.

Both teams played aggressively, with Olympia scoring first in all but the opening round, and pulling to 16-3 early in the third game.

“We just ran out of gas,” said Bears coach Laurie Creighton, who said her players had a hard time getting into an offensive rhythm. Senior Christie Colasurdo had a team-high 11 kills but was fighting an illness and therefore lacked her usual energy.

But, Creighton added, if the Bears were going to lose, they would prefer it be to a league rival.

“I thought our two teams should be in the championship,” she said. “We like our league representing.”

Courtney Schwan, the Lions’ 6-foot-2 sophomore offensive hitter, said that her team had been working “toward this moment” since the beginning of the season, and that they knew Olympia would be a challenging foe.

As for the next item on the checklist, “I think the state championship is on there,” said Schwan, who led the Lions with 20 kills and 26 digs.

Bellarmine Prep’s performance garnered accolades from Puyallup coach Tony Batinovich, who said the Lions are “very solid in most positions.”

Then again, he added, so is his team.

“It could have easily been us,” he said. “We’re happy, though, and we played a good semifinal against Bellarmine and I’m glad the kids came back and did something against Kentwood.”

Allie Schumacher, a senior offensive hitter who amassed 21 kills for the Vikings in the latter match, said that she felt like they played with heart against the Conquerors.

“It was really tough going into this game after the Bellarmine Prep loss,” she said. “We were tired, but we’re really excited. We haven’t been here, and we proved ourselves.”

Also advancing to the state tournament next weekend at St. Martins University in Lacey are Rogers, Tahoma, Kent-Meridian and Curtis.