Kennedy fininshed off it’s 2008 volleyball season by being trophy girls, once again, finishing high. The Lancers took the eighth place hardware home after action at the Toyota Center in Kennewich for the WIAA Dairy Farmers of Washington state championships Nov. 21-22.

“We’ve done well here,” said Tom Muckerheide, the Lancers’ coach. “Second place two years ago and seventh place last year and eighth this year.”

The top eight places get trophies and there are something like 80 3A high schools in the state of Washington. Eighth place by virtue of vying for the fifth place trophy in the consolation round versus Sumner, a team ranked No.1 in newspaper polls this season, is not bad at all.

But the way the first game fell from the Lancers’ graces, one couldn’t help but think maybe eighth place could have been more like fourth, or third, or, maybe even get to the championship.

“I think we had pretty high expectations coming in,” said coach Muckerheide. “Maybe do better than just a get a trophy. We would have liked to have made the finals.”

But a Kennedy slap miss hit here, a block misdiagnosed there, a powerful shot becoming a good dig on the other side, things of this nature factored in o things just not quite going the Lancers’ way once at state.

“Sometimes you are in a zone and sometimes you’re not,” said Muckerheide.

Starting out, the Lancers zoned in, beating high ranked Eastside Catholic, 25-17, in game one. But it was the best of five and so more games were to be played. In games two and three, 18-25 and 12-25 losses were meted . That made it 2-1, EC, but the Lancers were not through as Ashley Eneliko, Amanda Zilke and Jennica McPherson put their firepower forth. They also received well-placed assists from Katie Key and Emily Lockett and good hitting play from still others like Emily Jovanovich to get this all-important game to extra points. Neither team led by more than a point at 25, so the game was extended until one team won by two points. EC did win, 28-30.

“We were always on the downside of that fourth game versus EC,” said Muckerheide. “We were either behind at match point or tying it but never, it seemed, in the lead. With that came a lot of pressure. It is a lot harder to take risks at that point.”

The Lancers played Enumclaw at that point, in game two at state, and lost the first two games before totally turning things around, winning the last three. Game scores were 22-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-16 and 15-9.

Next up, in game three, was Mt. Si, whom the Lancers were in a groove against, 25-16, 25-14, 17-25, 25-21, winning that 3-1 in a four-game match.

“We played some good games and some average games,” said Muckerheide.

Next up was Sumner in the game to get the fifth or eighth place trophy. At first, it looked like the Lancers were closing in on the fifth place trophy. They handled mighty Sumner, 25-20. Then, in game two, it was an emotional drainer as the Lancers lost a close as can be game, 26-24. Sumner won game three and four to seal the Lancers’ fate, 18-25 and 21-25.

“Sumner was probably upset by Blanchet in their first game. They were in the 9 a.m. game and maybe just not ready yet,” said Muckerheide.

The Lancers were right there with all these teams, having Muckerheide grade the field evenly.

“There were a lot of good teams in the tournament,” he said. “I didn’t feel any of the 16 teams were head and shoulders better than the rest.”

Muckerheide was pleased with his girls’ showing at state despite maybe not getting quite as high a placement in the end as he would have liked.

“We were a hard team for the others to beat,” said Muckerheide. “Every team that played us had a certain respect for us afterward.”

Ashley Eneliko, a senior going to Oregon State University on a volleyball scholarship next fall, led all team members at state through the four games Kennedy played. Offensively, Eneliko ended up with 88 kills, to go along with 21 blocks. Amanda Zilke had 34 digs, 24 kills and 14 blocks to complement Eneliko’s all-powerful presence on the court. Emily Jovanovich had 42 digs, 34 kills, five blocks and 11 aces. Jennica McPherson had 21 kills, 17 blocks and 12 digs and Lauren Zilke had 37 digs, 18 kills, three assists and three aces. Katie Key had 11 aces as well as 77 assists and 34 digs. Emily Lockett had 87 assists and 25 digs.