CHELAN — The District 5 sixth-seed Moses Lake Christian Academy Lions took to the road Saturday to compete for a spot in the state tournament. The Lions found success on the court, earning wins over the fifth-seed Waterville-Mansfield and the first-seed Pateros to cement their place in the Yakima SunDome. 

"I'm really proud of them," said Lions Head Coach Dean Spurbeck. "They've been working hard and they've been learning and just going, 'Who cares? Just play.'" 

After falling to the second-seed Entiat last Tuesday, the Lions found themselves in back-to-back win-to-stay-in situations at the Chelan Community Gym on Saturday afternoon. Their first opponent Waterville-Mansfield, had a similar postseason run to MLCA, defeating Wilson Creek (3-0) and Soap Lake (3-1) in the early rounds of the tournament before falling to the first-seed Pateros.

In Saturday's game, the Lions got up quickly to 2-0 and kept their energy going throughout. By the end of the game, Moses Lake headed into the final round of districts on a 3-1 victory. 

"We haven't beaten Waterville for a while," said Spurbeck. "We definitely didn't beat them this year until then, so that was a good game for us." 

The energy coming off a win against a rival like that was important, as they were set to play against the No. 1 seed in District 5, Pateros, which just came off a 3-1 loss to Entiat. The Lions took the advantage early with another 2-0 lead in sets before Pateros claimed the third set. 

This didn't slow down MLCA, as they quickly rebounded in the fourth set to claim their 3-1 victory and qualify for state. 

"They have a couple of really good girls on their team, so we came out and got up on them right away 2-0 and that helped us a lot," said Spurbeck. "Most of the pressure was on (Pateros) because we were the number six seed, so that kind of played to our advantage." 

The Lions' ability to battle through the district tournament as one of the lower seeds and qualify for state is a testament to the hard work that each of the girls put in on the court. Spurbeck said the girls are peaking in skill at the right time. 

"We're still figuring things out and everything's coming together at the right time," he said. "It's showing them they can do more than they think they can and it's a lot of mental stuff. Even at these higher teams, it's a mental challenge, so peaking at the right time helped a lot." 

The consistent pressure that MLCA put on their opponents in these last two games of districts and minimizing their own errors has been crucial to their success so far, said the coach. As the Lions spend the next couple of days preparing for what lies ahead at state, keeping that play style is at the forefront of their minds. 

The Lions' success in the latter parts of the season is a result of each of the girls doing their jobs on the court, he said. 

"You need to do your job; you need to concentrate on what you're doing and then just play correct volleyball," said Spurbeck. "If you play correct volleyball and you're concentrating on what you need to do, then good things happen." 

MLCA will be entering the state tournament as the lowest seed on the bracket, which puts them in the play-in round. For Spurbeck, he said entering that low actually puts them in a perfect position to be inspired to play their best game. 

"The pressure's on (the opponents)," said Spurbeck. "Every team we beat, we weren't supposed to, so to me the thing to do is, let's just go play and have fun and the pressure's on everybody else." 

The Lions begin their state run Nov. 11 at 8 a.m. against Garfield-Palouse.

    MLCA and Pateros teams join together after Saturday's game for a group prayer in a joint showing of sportsmanship.