YAKIMA – The 1B/2B/1A State Volleyball Tournaments got off to a hot start at the Yakima Valley SunDome on Thursday, with No. 11 seed Lind-Ritzville and No. 13 seed Moses Lake Christian Academy/Covenant Christian School both making the trip to state in the 2B and 1B brackets, respectively.

“Getting out of districts, in our league, is a huge success,” Lind-Ritzville Head Coach Cari Galbreath said. “We have a highly competitive league, and so that road isn’t always easy for us, and getting out of that was a great success.”

The Broncos are returning to state after making the tournament last year as a No. 10 seed and falling to No. 7 Raymond in the first round.

“Excitement, for sure,” Galbreath said. “Our team goal this year was to get to state, and for them to conquer that goal is just huge. Emotionally, they’re on a high – it’s so nice to come back here.”

This is the first year that the Lions have made it to the 1B state tournament since 2010 when they lost to the eventual champion Almira/Coulee-Hartline in the second round and placed fourth in the state.

“I think it’s fun, we haven’t been here in so long, so just coming here and representing our school after it being 12 years (since we’ve been here),” MLCA/CCS senior Kali Kast said.

Both the Broncos and Lions won their opening-round matchups Thursday morning.

Lind-Ritzville defeated No. 6 Goldendale in a 3-0 sweep, bouncing back from being down early in the first set to win. The Broncos won Set 1 26-24 and won 25-21 in both Sets 2 and 3.

“I think we came from being behind that first set, and it showed resilience and diligence there,” Galbreath said. “I think we had smart, aggressive choices. We didn’t try too hard at times, but we also weren't complacent.”

With the win, the Broncos moved on to face No. 3 La Conner in the second round.

“We have pretty good energy right now,” Galbreath said. “Emotionally, we’re pretty connected and that always helps.”

On the court in the middle of the Yakima Valley SunDome, the Lions matched up with No. 20 Columbia Adventist in the play-in round of the 1B bracket. The Lions and Broncos began their games at 8 a.m. on Thursday, and there were three other games going on at the same time.

“There’s a lot of whistles going, you don’t know whose whistle is whose,” MLCA/CCS Head Coach Dean Spurbeck said. “You got to actually just play until they tell you to stop. It’s crazy.”

Along with the hectic surroundings of other volleyball games going on, the essence of playing in a large arena is something that teams needed to acclimate to quickly on the court.

“If you haven’t been here before, you come in here and the building is huge, everything is different,” Spurbeck said. “That is one of the biggest things when you come here, the awe of it. The court being so big, lights in your eyes and all that stuff – that to me is the hardest thing.”

Freshman Faith Rodriguez said that the Lions had some nerves going into their game against the Kodiaks.

“Nervous, but exciting,” Rodriguez said. “You got to have confidence.”

The Lions dropped the first set to Columbia Adventist 25-23, but rallied to win the final three sets en route to a 3-1 win to begin the tournament.

“We were very nervous, but after that first game we kind of calmed down a bit and were able to win,” Kast said.

MLCA/CCS fell to No. 4 Naselle 3-0 in the second round on Thursday afternoon, losing 25-10 in Sets 1 and 2 and 25-19 in the third set. The Lions can place as high as seventh if they win out of their consolation bracket.

“After the last three years of struggling, and then finally building up the strength to get here, it’s cool,” Kast said. “Especially for me, since it’s my last year.”

Results from MLCA/CCS and Lind-Ritzville’s final games on Thursday were not available for press time but will be provided in print and on www.columbiabasinherald.com.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box Scores:

MLCA/CCS vs Columbia Adventist

MLCA/CCS - 23-25-25-25

Columbia Adventist - 25-22-16-22

Lind-Ritzville vs Goldendale

Line-Ritzville - 26-25-25

Goldendale - 24-21-21

MLCA/CCS vs Naselle

MLCA/CCS - 10-10-19

Naselle - 25-25-25

Lind-Ritzville vs La Conner - La Conner won 3-0

La Conner - 25-25-25

Lind-Ritzville - 13-20-23

MLCA/CCS vs Liberty Christian - Liberty Christain won 3-1

MLCA/CCS - 25-23-25-17

Liberty Christian - 11-25-27-25

Lind-Ritzville vs Adna - Adna won 3-2, Broncos place sixth at state

Lind-Ritzville - 29-25-21-21-8

Adna - 27-11-25-25-15