HS Volleyball: Tumwater Defeats Kelso 3-0 at Home in 2A/3A Showdown

9/17/25

Tumwater Thunderbirds 3, Kelso Hilanders 0 (21-25, 25-23, 26-28)

(Tumwater, WA) A great night of volleyball unfolded in the Tumwater High School gymnasium as the Kelso Highlanders went on the road to take on the T-Birds. Both teams have seen a lot of success in previous seasons with state appearances and deep playoff runs. Both teams returned many players from last year, where they both had winning seasons as well. Tumwater came away with the win, but it never felt like the losing team. They were in every set down to the wire all night and made a statement even with the loss.

Tumwater won set one 21-25. Both teams exchanged points early in the game and kept the score within one point most of the set. The first big play of the game came when Sydney Wilson had a big kill to bring some energy to the T-Birds. A few possessions later, Chloe Henderson had a kill that seemed to start a momentum change to Tumwater’s side. Both teams are going back and forth, not letting the other maintain a lead or get too comfortable. The teams remained tied all the way to the last few possessions. Lauren Montoya-Kilmer would serve an ace at 22-20 that broke open the lead for the T-Birds. Tumwater would win 25-21 to take set one.

Set two was the same story as the whole night. Both teams were swaying between momentum changes and couldn’t seem to hold on to a strong lead. Maali Amrine and Sheena McGregor started off set two with a nice set of kills to take a 2-0 lead. Sydney Wilson came right back with a kill of her own that brought Tumwater right back into things. This continued throughout the set as neither team could maintain the upper hand. Tove Hugus made her name known in this set, however. With multiple kills and three blocks back-to-back, she became a large portion of the offense and defense for Tumwater. Lalie Betschart would get the ball to serve with Tumwater leading 24-23 and serve an ace to win the set and take a 2-0 lead.

Set three was not unlike the others. Kelso had the ability to hang with Tumwater and played a great game. They just unfortunately came up a little short and this set was no different. Tove Hugus continued her great night with multiple kills and an ace early in the set. Tumwater would jump to their biggest lead of the night where they led 15-8 but Kelso stormed right back to tie the game and even take the lead. Kelso’s Charlie Phillips would get a kill before going on a 3 point run that would tie the game. Kelso would take the lead but Tumwater was not fazed. They came right back and took back the lead with some huge kills by Paige Henderson that would bring the set to 21-24. T-Birds only needed one point to win the game but Kelso went on a run of their own and tied the game up again after a kill from Royal Grafton. Win by two rules came into play and both teams exchanged leads. Tumwater would come out with the victory though as Bailey Broeker had a great serve that was out of the reach of Kelso for the win. Tumwater took set three 28-26 and the game 3-0.

MVP and Stats

Our MVP of the game went to Tumwater’s Tove Hugus. She had an amazing night with 3 blocks, 7 kills, and 2 aces. She was ferocious at every part of the game for the T-Birds and was a huge reason why Tumwater came away with the victory. Sydney Wilson for Tumwater had 3 kills and a block for the game. Paige Henderson came through in the clutch as well with 6 kills of her own. Kelso had great support asll around from their players all night. Sheena McGregor was the standout player for the Highlanders with 2 aces, 1 block, and 4 kills.

Both teams played great games and were dead even all night on points. Either team could hae come away with the win but Tumwater takes it home in the end. Tumwater is back home on Thursday Sept. 18th to take on Olympia High School. Kelso returns home to face Camas on Sept. 18th as well

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