9/13/16
Tumwater 3, Bellarmine Prep 2 (14-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-12, 16-14)
(Tumwater, WA) The Tumwater T-Birds are 3-0 with 3 straight wins over 4A power teams. They 1st knocked off Curtis the defending State 4A Champions 3-2. Up next the knocked off Emerald Ridge who lost to Curtis in the State Title match last year and took home the State 2nd place trophy. Tuesday night they hosted Bellarmine Prep who finished 6th in last year’s tournament. So re-capping the 2A T-Birds are 3-0 vs last year’s 4A State Championship pair and 6th place team.
They completed the impressive trifecta Tuesday night in a 5 set come from behind win over Bellarmine Prep. In the 1st set the T-Birds were flat and the Lions immediately took control and rolled to a 25-14 win. Late in the 1st game Hannah Pukis delivered the knock-out blow with a tremendous kill shot.
Tumwater woke up in the 2nd set as the two teams ping-ponged back and forth with the T-Birds pulleds off a 26-24 win to even the match at 1-1. Tumwater led 24-22 but couldn’t put it away in regulation and won it on a Mia Basso serve that Prep’s McKenzie Schwan would return to deep for the winning point.
B-P would again cruise to a big lead like they did in the 1st set pulling out to a 19-13 lead. This time Tumwater wouldn’t roll over but rather kicked in a fierce close pulling within 1 point trailing 24-23. Maddy Pilon was serving and reeled off 3 in a row. On the must win 4th serve to extend the game Pilon drilled it over and as it was returned the T-Birds had a chance for a kill it for the tie but Allana McCollum came up with a huge block for the winning point and gave the Lions a 2-1 lead and put the Birds into a must win.
In the 4th set it was time for B-Prep to go flat as Tumwater rolled to an easy 25-12 win and again the match was even at 2-2. In the final set it had a play-off feel and the Lions sprinted to a 5-2 lead. Tumwater would battle back and would tie the match at 11 behind the serving of Ali Smith.
Prep would re-take the lead 12-11 and then Tumwater’s blocker Bella Najarro came up with our ProActive Physical Therapy Play of the Game to tie the match at 12. Najarro came up with a tremendous block that scored the point and kept the Lions from taking a 2 point lead.
Tumwater would go on to win the next 2 points behind a monsterous kill from Croft. But the Lions would not give in and would force a 14-14 tie. Croft took over serving and would serve out for the 16-14 win giving the T-Birds a 3-2 win improving to 3-0.
Our Tommy Lowe of the Greene Realty Group Players of the Game were Kennedy Croft for Tumwater and for Bellarmine Prep Hannah Pukis. The T-Birds will next face 4A Olympia while the Lions who dropped to 1-2 will
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