LACEY — Call Matt Monnastes crazy, but he would rather his Timberline Blazers win a match in four or five sets over straight sets any day of the week.
At this point in the season, he wants opponents to take a set or two from them.
If the Timberline volleyball team is to complete its vision of going the distance and winning a state championship in Yakima next month, Monnastes knows his Blazers must be battle-tested, fearless and unfazed by adversity.
Part of that mindset is why Timberline scheduled a trip to Phoenix earlier this fall to face some of the best teams in the nation in the Nike Tournament of Champions. It’s also why Monnastes and his coaching staff give their players scenarios in practice where they have to fight back from large deficits.
Timberline’s thick skin has grown thicker over years of the senior core experiencing postseason heartbreak and triumphs together, as well as frustrating losses to rival North Thurston every year.
The veteran Blazers remember the sting of defeat, and they’ve collectively vowed to never feel that pain again.
They won’t have to for at least another day, as Timberline knocked off North Thurston in four sets to clinch a season sweep over the reigning 3A state champion. Before this season, the Blazers had lost 16 games in a row to North Thurston dating back to 2017.
Timberline’s Oct. 6 win at North Thurston, which also went four sets, was classified as a non-league victory, but Tuesday’s game counts toward the Puget Sound League standings and leaves the Blazers as one of two unbeaten teams remaining in all of Class 3A, joining White River.
“We want teams to take sets off of us because that’s what we need to prepare for the postseason,” Monnastes said. “There’s not going to be a world where we’re sweeping teams every time. We have to be able to lose a set and win a game, and we practice for that.”
One key difference from Tuesday’s game compared to the first meeting was the return of Timberline senior middle blocker Lilly Grant, who played in her first game since Sept. 30 after dealing with a right leg injury. Grant made an immediate impact, putting Timberline on the scoreboard first with the night’s first kill.
In a first set that saw eight ties and four lead changes, North Thurston answered multiple Timberline runs and rallied to take an early advantage. But none of the Rams’ leads grew larger than a point, as Timberline found its groove late in the set to win 25-21.
Back on Oct. 6, the recipe for North Thurston to get back into the game after a first-set loss was to lean heavily on senior outside hitter Abby Losey. That strategy worked well for the Rams again, and Losey and Kaelani Adams teamed up to give their team an early 8-5 lead in the second set.
Turns out that a three-point deficit was the kind of adversity the Blazers were looking for. They responded with a 10-0 run, led by three aces from Central Washington commit Jovie Lind and a handful of Kinley Smith kills, to jump in front 15-8. North Thurston cut the margin to three, but the Blazers leaned on the sharp attacking of Smith and Miya Jackson to pull away 25-16.
A 7-0 run by the Rams in set three, including a block by Kelci Teo and an ace by Genesis Ngo, put the visitors on top 11-5. North Thurston fended off every Timberline run and never let the Blazers come closer than a point, winning the third set 25-20 to extend the game.
“I thought we did a really good job at controlling some of their big hitters this game. We were forcing them to go to different people,” North Thurston head coach Jackie Meyer said. “We were blocking the back row attack a lot better, and I thought our serve receive was a lot better this game.”
Another huge run by Timberline, this time nine unanswered points, blew the fourth set open after both teams went back and forth early. Lind once again caught fire from the service line, adding two of her six aces in that spurt. The Blazers led by as many as 12 and rolled to a 25-16 victory to seal the four-set triumph and the season sweep of North Thurston.
“It means a lot to me because we fought for so long to do that. For the first time, I think all the pieces are fitting together,” Jackson said of the sweep of the Rams. “Losing for so long against some tough opponents, and we had some big losses last year, really enforced a mindset of, ‘We can’t give up. Every ball matters, even if we’re down by 10. Put your whole heart into the next play and the next point.’”
Jackson finished with a double-double of 17 kills and 12 digs, and Smith also tallied a double-double with 20 kills and 18 digs. Setter Leia Dela Cruz compiled 50 assists, three weeks after a 53-assist performance against North Thurston.
In her return, Grant posted 13 kills, three digs, three aces and a block.
“She’s just a presence on the court that is undeniable,” Monnastes said of Grant. “Tonight, she looked good, but when you see her every day, you could tell that she’s still not at her peak yet because she hasn’t been playing for three weeks.”
Losey (13 kills, 12 digs) and Adams (13 kills, 10 digs) each recorded double-doubles, while Jazlyn Strachan dished out 27 assists.
Meyer liked North Thurston’s (11-4, 7-2 Puget Sound League) energy against Timberline and knows they’ll have to raise it against Lakes on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
“I just want to see the girls keep the same energy they had today. They had really good energy on the court, and they believed in each other,” Meyer said. “We need two wins to set us up pretty good for seeding for the district tournament.”
Before North Thurston can take on Lakes at home next week, Timberline (13-0, 8-0 PSL) will visit the Lancers on Thursday, Oct. 29. If the Blazers defeat the Lancers, they’ll be very close to clinching their first league title since 2013.
