TACOMA — This season has been one of plentiful change for the North Thurston Rams.
At times in the regular season, the reigning 3A state champions didn’t look quite the same as the mighty Rams teams that steamrolled through the district in the past three years.
Life without the likes of 2026 graduates Addy Conner, Anna Sheeran and Sammi Humphrey had some growing pains. North Thurston hadn’t lost five games in the regular season in five years. A bullish Puget Sound League sometimes got the best of the Rams while they attempted to build chemistry with new pieces on the court.
But head coach Jackie Meyer didn’t care about what the regular season win-loss record looked like.
She knew that by the time the calendar struck mid-November and the district bracket was released, the Rubik’s Cube would eventually align.
Under intense pressure in the Class 3A District 3 Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday, Nov. 11 against undefeated White River, the North Thurston Rams’ Rubik’s Cube gave them superpowers.
The Rams rallied back from a 2-0 set deficit to reverse sweep White River in a five-set thriller to advance to the district semifinals and secure a sixth consecutive state tournament bid. White River had only lost one set all season, and North Thurston handed the Hornets three set losses in a row and their first defeat of the year.
“To sweep a team that is 18-0 is very difficult. I’m really blessed to have a group of girls that is really coachable,” Meyer said. “It took heart. Grit. Willpower. It’s really exciting to see that from them. I know they’re passionate. I just wanted to see that come out a little bit. I think that they’re put in their best situations when they’re challenged, and I love to see that.”
White River had won 35 sets in a row prior to its quarterfinal matchup against North Thurston, and the Hornets made it 36 with a come-from-behind 25-22 win in the first set. The Rams opened up an early 11-7 lead as Kelci Teo and Abby Losey both got off to a sizzling start, but the Hornets regained the lead at 16-15 and never trailed again. The powerful swings of White River senior outside hitter Emery Stevenson and senior middle blocker Marli Miller were rocketing balls all over the Rams’ side of the court in the first set.
Errors kept North Thurston out of rhythm early in set two as White River built a 6-1 advantage. The Rams pulled within a point on six different occasions throughout the rest of the second set, but they never found the equalizer, and the Hornets won 25-23 to take a commanding 2-0 set lead.
However, the final play of the second set may have played an accidental role in sparking the North Thurston comeback. Miller spiked a kill off the face of Rams defensive specialist Chloe Spaulding for the last point to complete the set.
Kaelani Adams took what occurred next personally.
“They hit Chloe in the head, and they didn’t even say sorry. They were being rude. They were laughing at her,” Adams said. “I wasn’t gonna let that slide. I’m gonna swing on every ball. If I don’t get a kill, I don’t care. I’m gonna swing as hard as I can.”
Much more often than not, that strategy worked.
In the middle of a tight third set, Adams took command of the game. Her attacks grew more powerful by the swing, and setter Jazlyn Strachan continued to put her in prime position to unload her best swings.
North Thurston trailed 18-14 before a couple of Hornets attack errors and a clutch kill by Adams knotted the score at 20-20. A massive block by Teo put the Rams in front 24-23, and Stevenson misfired on an outside attack to seal a 25-25 Rams win and send the match to a fourth set.
Adams’ takeover reached another level in the fourth. She pounded three kills in a row to help her team blitz the Hornets in an 8-3 run to start the frame. White River tied the set at 20-20 after trailing by six, but the power of Adams and Teo was enough to close out a 25-23 fourth-set victory and send the match to the fifth.
With the momentum of the match comfortably on their side, the Rams watched White River rip it back in a 4-1 run in the opening moments of the fifth, forcing a Meyer timeout.
“The message was to just calm down and clean up our errors. We’ve had problems with that this year,” Meyer said.
Adams continued to pulverize the Hornets defense from the outside while White River’s offense struggled to find the hardwood, and a 7-1 run boosted the Rams back in front.
It was fitting that the final kill of the night went to Adams, who finished with 28 in the biggest game of the season, off the 54th assist from Strachan, in a 15-11 fifth-set verdict to send the Rams to state.
“I gotta give the kudos to our setter Jaz. She was giving me great sets,” Adams said. “She was getting it to the pin every time. The block was leaving the line wide open. I just kept slamming the line, and they didn’t make an adjustment.”
“She wanted it. When she got the ball, she put it away,” Meyer said of Adams. “That’s really exciting.”
North Thurston hadn’t seen a match go to a fifth set since the 2024 state championship game against Ridgeline. After sweeping Auburn Mountainview in the first round 25-12, 25-14, 25-18, earlier in the day on Wednesday, the Rams only seemed to get stronger as the long day grew longer.
Strachan enjoyed a remarkable day across two games in her first postseason on varsity. After a 36-assist, 11-dig performance against Auburn Mountainview, she piled up 54 assists and seven digs against White River. She had only four errors all day.
Over the past couple of weeks, the Rams have begun utilizing Strachan more on the defensive end, and she was more than willing to step into the challenge of flying around on defense on top of handling her setter duties on offense.
“We have a really strong connection in our team. We work well together when we really talk and communicate,” Strachan said.
The Rams consider pressure to be an opportunity to rise. Seasoned veterans like Losey have played in much higher stakes than a district quarterfinal, but they embrace chaos and adversity, and there was plenty of both against White River.
“We had to come up with things on the fly. We had to literally adjust last minute, and that’s something that we all really work toward as a team,” Losey said. “Tonight, we really showed our skills. We have so much energy to the point where we could defeat anyone.”
North Thurston (14-5) will face Central Kitsap (16-3) in the district semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 14 at Mount Tahoma. The Cougars haven’t lost since Oct. 3 and haven’t been defeated by a 3A team since Sept. 17.
“The mindset now is baby goals. Our first goal was to put everything into this game. Let’s beat White River. Let’s make it to state. Now, that goal’s done,” Meyer said. “The next goal should be to want to make it to the district championship game.”
