By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
The Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks volleyball team (11-7) earned their first ever Tri-District tournament berth after an amazing showing at the NW1B District tournament. The team traveled to Tacoma on Thursday, November 3, to face-off with the (12-5) Eagles of Evergreen Lutheran High School.
In the 1st game, Tulalip went down early, trailing 4-12 at one point, and weren’t able to get any momentum going. They dropped the opener 10-25.
The momentum continued to be elusive in the 2nd game as the Lady Hawks again went down big early, trailing 2-12 before calling a timeout. Following the timeout, they ladies showed some fight and got some rally points going, but they weren’t able to overcome the early deficit. They dropped the 2nd game 18-25.
Down 0 games to 2, and with the season on the line, the Lady Hawks finally got their offensive game going. They played the Eagles seemingly point for point in the early stages. At one point the game was tied 3-3, then again tied at 14-14. This time it was the Eagles calling a timeout to regroup and talk over their strategy. Unfortunately, the Eagles just had too much firepower on this day and the Lady Hawks weren’t able to counter for a full game. Tulalip lost the very competitive 3rd game 22-25 and the match 0 games to 3.
The brief appearance in the Tri-District tournament marks the end of the season for the Tulalip Lady Hawks (11-8). Looking back on the season it was full of firsts and surprising developments for the volleyball program led by coach Tina Brown. The eleven total wins is a new school record, as well as the undefeated start when they opened the season (5-0). All in all, it was a very successful season that saw the Lady Hawks grow as a team and find unprecedented achievement on the volleyball court that led them to make their deepest postseason run in school history.
“I am so very proud of our Lady Hawks volleyball team,” stated coach Tina Brown. “The girls made it to tri-districts for the first time, they played with pride and fought hard. What a great season.”