HS Volleyball: Old school Lacey Showdown NT edges Timberline

9/23/2025

North Thurston 3, Timberline 1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-19)

(Lacey, WA) 5 years-ago this match would have had a few people in the gym to watch and no media coverage at all and it would have lasted maybe an hour. The North Thurston Rams have been a Volleyball machine for years and the Timberline Blazers were struggling.

A few years ago the Blazers hired new head coach Matt Monnastes and he has turned the Timberline volleyball team from an easy win to a legitimate contender. Tuesday night the Blazers hosted the vaunted Rams program under their strong and steady head coach Jackie Meyer who led her team to the 3A State Championship match last November in Yakima. The Rams lost to Ridgeline in 5 sets and are focused on returning to the title match this year and close the deal.

Timberline laid the groundwork last year getting to the state tournament as the 11 seed and lost to the 6 seed Mount Spokane 3-2 then won their consolation getting to day 2 where they lost 3-2 to Bellevue. Had they won they they would have brought home a trophy. So the Blazers are looking to take another step forward this season.

By the looks of last night both are on track to accomplish their goals.

Set 1 Blazers surprise

North Thurston led pretty much from start to almost finish. Timberline took their first lead 11-10 on a serve and kill from Destiny Mars. The two teams would trade points until North Thurston surged to a 23-20 lead.

After a Timberline point score the Blazers were down 23-21 with Kinley Smith coming to the service line. The two teams would push the next point with an epic rally between the two with great digs, big kill shot and fabulous net play with Emyah Riley controlling the middle for the Blazewrs. In the end Timberline won the point to cut the lead to 23-22. Mars then came up with a blistering spike to tie the match, the Blazers then won the next point and Mars completed the comeback win with another hammer shot while Smith served out the win.

Set 2 Rams dial in

It was another back and forth to begin set 2 but the Rams took over control leading 8-7 when Tianna Orffer came to the line and reeled of 4 straight to push the lead to 12-7. Libero Anna Sheeran made some great saves and set-up her front line that Addy Conner, Kelci Teo and Kaelani Adams all took advantage of with booming kills to quick turn shots with great placement to keep the Blazer defense off balance.

The Rams never allowed Timberline to pull much closer, the Blazers didn’t fall further behind but the Rams flexed a bit in this one and held serve to even the match at 1-1 with a 25-19 win.

Set 3 Blazers Challenge, Rams withstand

It looked like North Thurston would use the same blueprint for set 3 as they did in set 2. The game was tied at 6-6 when the Rams ran off 4 points behind the serving of Abby Losey. In that run Conner added to her kill total and Samantha Humphrey had a beautiful re-direct shot to push their lead to 10-6.

The Blazers responded immediately with Leia Dela Cruz scoring 3 with help from another Mars big blow and the Blazers were back within 1. The two went back and forth with some amazing rallies mixed in but North Thurston increased their lead to 3 going up 18-15 on a devastating fireball from Losey. From there the Blazers could not get closer than 3 points.

The Blazers had on last shot trailing 24-19 and needed to fire off 5 straight and got the first one with an ace from Jovie Lind. They scored the next point but that would be it with the Rams winning the final point taking set 3 25-21.

Set 4 Rams secure victory

Set 4 had a couple of early runs with Timberline building a 7-3 lead but the Rams countered with Conner at the service line firing off 5 straight points with another big rally mixed in. These two would not give in with big shots and great transition shots. Teo had a big block, Conner and Adams with big hits with counters from Mars, Lind and Islee Rebelez for Timberline.

The match came down to Timberline down 21-19 with the serve. North Thurston would win the point and Conner would step up to serve. The Rams buckled down and refused to let Timberline back in and they finished the match with a 3-0 run for the 25-19 win and 3-1 match victory.

Thorbeckes MVP

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game goes to Addy Conner. It was a tough decision but her all-around play edged out several other contenders including Abby Losey, Kelci Teo and Kaelani Adams. Had Timberline pulled off the win consideration would have gone to Destiny Mars, Kinley Smith and Emyrah Riley.

North Thurston improves to 6-0 over all and 5-0 in league play. Timberline is now 3-2 in league and overall. The Rams will host Gig Harbor on Monday and then travel to Central Kitsap in a cross divisional week of play. Timberline gets C-K on Thursday and then home on Monday vs Silas whole traveling to Mt Tahoma next Wednesday.

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

Video Highlights

The Blazers with a key point after a big time rally