HS Volleyball: Curtis stays perfect in re-match of 2024 State Title with Kennedy Catholic

9/18/2025

Curtis 3, Kennedy Catholic 0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-14)

(University Place, WA) The Curtis Vikings faced the Kennedy Catholic Lancers for the first time since last November in the State 4A Championship match. It was the 1 seed vs the 3 and 1 seed rolled through with a straight sets victory. There are always changes in rosters coming back the next year but when a re-match is on the schedule it is one to look forward too.

The verdict, it looks like Curtis is not ready to let go of the big trophy. All 3 sets were very similar with both teams trading points and neither team allowing the other to get ahead by more than 2 points. Then about the halfway point Curtis found a surge got the separation they wanted and went on to sweep the Lancers and remain perfect.

1st Set

An early 3 point run by Mia Nelson at the service line gave the Vikings a 2 point lead. That run was ended with a big kill shot by the Lancers Taytum Colman-Brusa. The two teams then traded point but neither could score more than 1 point. With Curtis leading 14-12, the libero Elaina Duong stepped up to the service line and delivered the knock out punch scoring 8 straight points. When she was finished the Vikings led 22-13.

Lucy McNaughton came in to complete the set with 2 points fueled by a pair of huge spikes from Selana Morales and the Vikings posted the 25-13 set win.

2nd Set

Curtis got off to a fast start after an unforced error for Kennedy Catholic on the opening serve3 and then Kate Harris firing 3 straight points with an ace to give Curtis a quick 4-0 lead. The Lancers would battle back in this and chipped away at that deficit with Emily Barbus serving 3 straight points with an ace and actually took the lead 9-8. Curtis would tie it on the next point. With the Lancers leading 11-10 a big slam shot from K-C’s Alexis Lewis gave them a 2 point lead, 12-10.

Curtis then got fueled by a 3 point run from Harris at the service line and featured a massive block for a point from Bella McNaughton. That was followed by an unbelievable scramble on defense for Curtis to go up 14-12.

After that it wasn’t one big run but rather Curtis just adding to their lead as the final 3 Lancer servers failed to score a point. Harris gave the Vikings some juice with a huge kill shot leading 22-16 giving the serve back to Curtis. Morales came in to serve the final 2 points for the 25-16 win and the Vikings were up 2-0.

3rd Set

The 3rd set was no different than the first two with the teams with the early back and forth and they were tied at 9-9. Curtis again began to slowly pull away and led 15-11 when Amaree Hollis stepped up for K-C and served a pair of points with an ace. Keeping the one rally alive was a spectacular dig from Maya Quitiquit to pull within 2 at 15-13. The Lancers would then pull back within 2 16-14 but Bella McNaughton came up with another huge kill.

This brought up Presley Messersmith who would rattle off 7 straight points to close out the match. During that run the Viks Kayla Baker came up with a couple of big shots along with Tala Johnson.

Once the Vikings got rolling the Lancers never could find an answer to slow them down. Kennedy Catholic could never get more than 2 points a serve which hurt them in trying to make any significant run.

Our Sumner Holiday Inn Express MVP of the game went to Kate Harris. The junior came up with some spectacular plays at some crucial times to get the nod. Others that could have easily been named the MVP were Selana Morales, Kayla Baker and Elaina Duong.

Had Kennedy Catholic pulled off the win we liked the efforts from their libero Kiera Fong along with Emily Barbus and Alexis Lewis.

Curtis is now 4-0 and has yet to drop a set so they are 12-0 in sets. They begin conference play next week hosting Puyallup on Monday and traveling to Spanaway Lake on Wednesday before hosting Tumwater on Thursday in a non-league match-up.

Kennedy Catholic drops to 1-2 but remain 1-0 in NPSL conference play and hosts Mount Rainier on Tuesday then travels to Auburn on Thursday.

To watch the full replay click on this link to the NFHS Network (subscription required)

ESN talks with Match MVP Kate Harris on the Awards West Postgame Show