It took a full afternoon and evening before perseverance primed the Highline vollyeball team for a West Central District qualifying effort Friday in the Seamount/Class 3A South Puget Sound League sub-district tournament held at Mount Rainier High School.

Five games of all out war (25-12, 26-24, 26-28, 9-25, and 15-12) against Mount Rainier catapulted the Pirates into district. Seizing command of the front row, Highline roared ahead early en route to the first game win.

Mount Rainier matched Highline for every single or multi-point rally until the very end of the second game before clutch play from the defense and front row prevailed for the Pirates in the second game.

Matching the second game battles, the Rams clung to Highline tightly and notched the final two points on extended rallies to take the third game.

It was the Rams’ turn to dominate in game four. Kathleen Mulligan and Alina Moss took charge with the help of setters and defenders to completely stifle the Highline efforts.

When the time came for heroics, the Pirates shanghaied the Rams for the critical and closely contested final points in game four.

Enumclaw defeated Highline in four games to send the Pirates to district as the No. 8 seed.

Highline’s road to district was danger laden.

Peninsula posed a huge roadblock to begin round one and Highline could have used an early alarm to energize its play in a 3-2 Pirate loss.

Conquering the net and every other aspect of the match up, the Seahawks pounded out a 25-7 first game dominance.

Shaking off the devastation of the first game, the Pirates rebounded from a 6-1 deficit to draw within 6-4 in the second game. Highline  then proceeded to parade into a 10-7 lead on the strength of Lynette Owusu’s serving and the precision play of hitters Samantah Erben and Silia Ngaumo.  

Behind Casey Young’s tough serving, the Pirates built a 15-9 margin and maintained leads of at least four points until Young served an ace for a 25-19 win.

Peninsula utilized a 7-0 run to end the third game with a 25-19 verdict.

In the fourth game, Highline exchanged evenly with Peninsula until the Seahawks flew to 11-8 and 14-9 margins. Owusu’s blocking in the middle and Tori Fesili’s singing serves propelled the Pirates five consecutive points. The teams fought evenly with good blocking at net gave the Rams a 21- 18 lead. Five consecutive Seahawk points garnered a 23-21 Peninsula lead. Undaunted, Owusu kept leading the MR front row with Katie Gehring serving to key a 4-0 Ram run to victory.

Each team took turns with short scoring runs until the final tie at 11-11. Highline was in good position with a 13-11 lead. Taking advantage of Pirate mistakes, the Seahawks rattled off the final four points.

“We worked hard,” said Highline head coach Amy Porter. “I don’t know what else to say. Different players in to do a good job. Katie Gehring’s serving game was good in game four. We could have used a wake-up call in the first game, but we knew not to give up.”

That attitude finally was rewarded with a ticket to district.

Working on short rest, Highline gathered itself together and defeated Lindbergh, 25-14, 25-7, 25-27, and 25-19 to stay alive for its district clinching victory against Mount Rainier.