TENINO — Moments after Tenino was swept by Kalama in a district quarterfinal at home on Wednesday evening, Tenino coach Shauna Carpenter stood near the door of the locker room.
Her team had about an hour or so before playing an elimination game, but Carpenter wanted to make sure that they properly reset mentally before heading out.
“You don’t get to leave that locker room until you come out as one,” Carpenter said. “We had that conversation. What are you going to do for your team? No longer do we get to be selfish and play for ourselves. We are playing for somebody else in this room.”
The Beavers ultimately lost to Montesano 15-25, 21-25, 25-22, 23-25, knocking them out of the district tournament and ending their season, but Carpenter was beaming with pride when talking about their resiliency after the game.
“It almost brings tears to your eyes,” Carpenter said as her eyes began to water. “That is what I’ve been begging from them the entire season … Nobody expected us to be here in the first place. They took that to heart. Nobody expected them to be there, and they wanted to be there. Those last two sets were exactly what I asked for.”
It would have been easy for the Beavers to roll over instead.
After scoring just six points in the third set against Kalama, Tenino dropped the first two sets against Montesano and trailed 21-14 in the third.
An 11-1 run gave Tenino the set and pushed the match to a fourth. After the Bulldogs took an early 10-4 lead in that set, another Beaver run eventually tied things up at 17. The set was also tied at 18 and 20 before Montesano pulled away.
“Did it look the most perfect?” Carpenter said. “No. But did every last one of them give it all? Every single one of them gave it all.”
Across the two games, Sequoia Zimmer dished out 30 assists and added 15 digs, three aces, and a kill while going 18 for 19 from the service line.
Keira Laughlin missed just two of 20 attempts from the line and recorded six digs and two aces, and Kendall Bowe finished with six kills, four digs, and two blocks while going 14 for 16.
Katen Burkhardt collected 27 kills and three blocks while missing just one of 32 service attempts, and Jaeleen Woodward logged 24 digs and went 17 for 18 from the line.
It was the final game of Woodward’s high school career, one where she spent all four years starting at the varsity level.
Carpenter was an assistant coach during Woodward’s freshman year before taking over as the head coach her sophomore season.
“It sucks to lose Jelly,” Carpenter said. “She’s our little energizer bunny and the heart of our team … It’s nice to see the legacy she’s leaving behind. She started her freshman year saying ‘I want to change the culture here.’ Losing her is tough.”
Multiple other contributors are expected back, including Burkhardt, Bowe, Laughlin, and Sequoia and Violet Zimmer.
Carpenter said that she’s already looking forward to returning with her core.
“They love each other, and they play for each other,” Carpenter said. “These girls are absolutely the kindest kids that you’ll ever get. And they truly care for each other … I literally love these girls.”
