The Warriors from Seattle Christian defeated the Evergreen Lutheran Eagles from Des Moines in a Friday night volleyball showdown. The Warriors come into the match with a 10-1 record and 6-0 in the Nisqually League.

“We have beaten everyone in our league,” head coach Mike Todd says, “but now we have to battle through the second round and there are some good teams.”

Coach Todd, in his second year, takes each game one-at-a-time.

“We want to get to the state tournament. That is our goal,” he says confidently. “We were knocked out early last year.”

Their eyes can be focused on that goal when a person locates the tall, 6-foot, 2-inch frame of sophomore middle hitter/blocker, Katie Collier.

“She was intimidating at first,” Melanie Laete, senior middle hitter of the Eagles, responds after the contest, “But it was our miscues that cost us at the end of each set.”

The power of her hits, were very impressive, when they were able to supply her with the good sets. She opened and closed the first set with powerful finishes untouched. She finished the match with 15 kills.

Collier towered above the Eagle would-be blockers. One would have expected the sets to go quickly while she was in the attack row. But the excellent serving and spot passing kept the Warriors always on their heels.

Caty Poetter, a senior from EL, provided the main assault on the Warriors, not allowing them the opportunity to get good touches by finding uncovered areas on the opponent’s side of the net. Caty is in her fourth year as a varsity setter. Chris Poetter, Caty’s father and head coach of the Eagles, is in his sixth season with the Eagles. Last year the Eagles made the 2B state tournament and have been 6 times in the last 11 years.

“We are a defensive team. We need to get more ‘power’ into our game,” the Eagle coach states. “Since we lack the consistent power in our game, we depend on quickness and ball-control,” Poetter finishes. This ball control was the key to all the games.

The sets were all tight battles. The first set had seven ties, with the final tie at 21’s before the ball control for the Eagles broke down, and the Warriors prevailed 25-21. The second set was just as the first. The back-n-forth lead changes came off long volleys for a single point.

Neither team would go down easily, the quickness of the Eagles saw juniors Erica Hansen and Erika Herman never letting the ball hit the floor.

The Eagles answered with the second set, taking it 25-18.

The third and fourth sets saw the EL team make some untimely and unforced errors. Volleyball is a true test of momentum and leads can swing so quickly.

This is verified by the Eagle power in the middle, Melanie Laete.

“Volleyball is a game of emotions, and we need to learn to ‘Finish’!” Laete continues, “We had a few too many miscues at the end of games.” Caty Poetter responded to this as well, “We get too comfortable and we can’t do that.”

The Warriors came out on top in the final sets, 25-23 and 25-17. The Eagles, who played the night before losing in five sets, looked tired in the latter sets according to a few in the stands.

The Eagles are currently 5-3 and undefeated in league play. Next week the Eagles will battle key Sea Tac League teams: Seattle Lutheran and Rainier Christian and hope to remain undefeated and remain on top of the conference.

Some key stats for the Eagles: Laete 16 kills, Poetter 29 assists and 14-14 serving, team serving 92%.