It was a season where the Medical Lake volleyball program seemed to move from crawling baby to toddler, all in a matter of days.
The Cardinals did the equivalent of going from pulling themselves up to the living room coffee table to bouncing across the room with abandon. That came by qualifying for their first Northeast A postseason in several years — doing it in style with a straight-sets win over Deer Park on Oct. 18.
Then once in the district playoffs, they won an opening round match before tumbling back to the floor, suffering a pair of losses that ended their season last week.
“The team played well throughout districts but could not find the extra needed against Freeman and Colville,” head coach Todd Harr wrote in an email.
District play at Freeman High School opened with a 3-0 win over Newport, Oct. 25 but closed in the double-elimination format with a 3-0 loss to Freeman later that night, and a 3-0 loss to Colville last Friday.
“Taking fourth in districts is nothing to be ashamed of and the ladies should be proud of all they have accomplished,” Harr said.
The Cardinals opened play with wins of 25-17, 26-24, 25-20 in which Megan Goertz had 30 assists and two aces and Courtney Daylo added double-digit digs with 12.
Winning two times in a row is a rarity for the Cardinal program and one needs to go back six seasons to 2013 when the program strung together three straight, two of those non-league contests.
That sent Medical Lake up against top-seeded Freeman which has gone through the season with a 15-1 record. The Scotties won with ease, 25-9, 25-10 and 25-12. Daylo had nine digs.
Next was a loser-out match against Colville (11-6) where Medical Lake dropped a 25-15, 25-10, 25-13 contest. Goertz had 15 assists for the Cardinals.
Medical Lake finished the season, Harr’s third as head coach, with a 5-13 record and a vast improvement over a pair of winless 0-14 campaigns to start.
“The team came together and grew in every aspect of the game throughout the season,” Harr said.
While Harr said it was a sad way to end the season, “I cannot help but to look back and see all of the good throughout.” While losing five seniors, Harr has built what he thinks is a solid base of younger players, including freshmen who saw significant time on the court.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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