The Curtis Vikings could get used to this.

Curtis won the West Central District volleyball title for the second year in a row, beating Olympia in four sets in the championship match at Kentwood High on Saturday.

The Vikings, who finished second to Graham-Kapowsin in the SPSL South and were the third seed to districts, had never won a district title until a year ago.

“Our team is mostly seniors,” Curtis outside hitter Emily Cotter said. “We couldn’t win league, but we wanted to come out and prove we’re the top dogs.”

Cotter had 18 kills in the championship match despite playing all weekend with a sprained rotator cuff in her right shoulder, done during practice this past week.

“It’s no biggie,” said Cotter, grinning ear to ear and clutching the district trophy. “I’m good. I’m on a cloud.”

The Bears, who won the first game of the title match, will go to the Class 4A state tournament next weekend at the Toyota Center in Kennewick as the district’s No. 2 seed behind Curtis. Olympia is the only Narrows team to advance.

“Unfortunately, that tells a sad story,” Olympia coach Laurie Creighton said. “The SPSL just sees more consistent teams night in and night out.”

Olympia beat Tahoma, while Curtis beat Auburn Riverside in the semifinals earlier Saturday to advance.

Trailing by a set, the Vikings never panicked.

“They don’t care what the score is, up or down,” Curtis coach Jeff Grosshans said. “It’s just perseverance, perseverance.”

In addition to her 18 kills, Cotter finished with 25 digs.

The Vikings were led by the 19 kills from Kaisa Knapp in the final match, while Samantha Hutchison added 15 kills and 25 digs.

“We get the first one and we did what we wanted to do,” Creighton said. “As it wore on, we didn’t adjust well … Then the kids didn’t stay aggressive when things went south on us.”

Auburn Riverside came back to beat Tahoma – whose Cinderella run on Friday earned it a trip to state – for the third seed. The Bears are the sixth seed to the state tournament.

The best match of the day took place in the consolation bracket, however.

That’s where Narrows and SPSL champions Gig Harbor and Graham-Kapowsin found themselves as Saturday began.

Facing each other, the Tides and Eagles didn’t disappoint.

On Court 3, Graham-Kapowsin won a see-saw five-set match to keep itself in contention for a state berth. It wasn’t easy.

Game 1 wasn’t decided until 33-31, with the Eagles finally outlasting myriad rallies that kept a nearly-packed gymnasium full of fans on the edge of their seats. Gig Harbor came back to win Game 2, 25-23.

The Eagles trailed 23-20 late in Game 4, and behind two sets to one, when they rallied for a 27-25 victory before pulling away in the deciding fifth set to earn a chance against Puyallup.

“That was crazy,” Eagles coach Loni Parks said. “I’ve never coached in a match like that.”

Graham-Kapowsin just kept winning after that. The Eagles dispatched Puyallup to earn a state berth, then won the coin flip with Kentwood to get the No. 4 seed.

The Conquerors are the fifth seed.