LACEY — The Timberline Blazers had one overarching goal in their game against Capital Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Make it quick.
About eight hours before they had to catch a flight to Phoenix for the Nike Tournament of Champions this weekend, the Blazers dominated Capital in straight sets in a non-league matchup to win their eighth straight game to start the season.
In the Tournament of Champions bracket, Timberline is included in the “national” division that is made up of the 32 best teams in the country, including top-ranked Mater Dei from California.
“We somehow fell in the top 32 of the tournament,” Timberline head coach Matt Monnastes said.
So far this season, Timberline has proven that there might not be any “somehow” about that ranking. The Blazers are the last remaining unbeaten team in the Puget Sound League at 8-0 overall and 6-0 in league play, and they’ve won all but one set in 2026.
Monnastes’ senior-heavy group has had its eyes on a deep postseason run this season since they left Yakima with the seventh-place trophy last fall. The Blazers believe that the Tournament of Champions could be a test run for the real tournament of champions at the Yakima Valley SunDome in November.
“We want to get our skills up. We’re gonna have some good competition,” senior setter Leia Dela Cruz said. “It’ll get us ready for teams like North Thurston. I think we’re ready for the challenge.”
Timberline didn’t appear so ready for the challenge early in the first set against Capital, which came firing out of the gates. The Cougars’ front row of Clara Sandberg and Claire Anderson repeatedly denied Kinley Smith’s attacks on the outside, and Eliza Mikkelsen converted strong defensive play into kills as Capital built a 7-4 lead.
The Blazers took their first lead at 11-10 following a timeout, and they made adjustments that allowed Smith, Kinley Zimmerman and Miya Jackson to find space to cut the ball through the Cougars defense. A 9-1 run by Timberline turned a 15-15 tie into a 24-16 advantage, and the Blazers held off a brief Capital rally to win 25-19. Smith finished with seven kills in the first set alone.
Sandberg and Bella Cestnik each made a powerful block to open the second set with Capital ahead 4-3, but Timberline awoke and flipped the momentum in a blink. Seven unanswered Blazers points took the wind out of Capital’s sail, and another 9-1 run put the set out of reach as Timberline pulled away 25-12.
Seven different Blazers recorded a kill in the second set, including six from Smith. That was part of the plan for this week’s in-state games before Timberline heads to Phoenix. Jackson will not join the Blazers in Arizona, so they will be without one of their top offensive threats and a senior leader.
“We’re running a different type of lineup this weekend without one of our key players, and so we’re trying to get other people exposure to the court doing a different lineup,” Monnastes said. “We clearly know who our strong dominant hitters are. We need other dominant hitters on the court, and we have them. We just need to get them comfortable and confident.”
The third set was more of the same from Timberline, with the addition of Lilly Grant dominating at the net from the opening serve of the frame. Timberline built an 18-6 lead, but the Cougars gave the Blazers one final push and cut the deficit down to five points at one point. Anderson and Sandberg found a groove offensively, and the Cougars capitalized on attacking and service errors from Timberline. But the Blazers closed out the third set 25-19.
Capital bookended the game with an impressive start and a strong finish against one of the top teams in Class 3A. First-year head coach Maia Nichols left the Timberline gym proud of what her team showed at times Wednesday night.
“It was a lot of heart and grit. These girls really wanted to come out and show this team what we’ve got,” Nichols said. “I wanted to see if we could do another comeback like how we did against Olympia. We were right there with (Timberline) in the end. We wanted to know that we can do that against tough teams. I want to see this team maybe not start off as slow and just continue that momentum we had in that first set instead of going through a lull in the middle of the game.”
Sandberg and Mikkelsen each posted five kills for Capital, and Tess Haws recorded a dozen assists and an ace.
Timberline was led by a double-double from Smith with 15 kills and 12 digs. Dela Cruz piled up 26 assists, five digs, four kills and two aces, and Jovie Lind led the Blazers with 13 digs. Jackson added eight kills and four digs.
Monnastes got what he wished for in terms of exploring the depth on his roster heading into this weekend’s national tournament. Junior Joyce Izuagbe saw a good amount of time and made an impact on the outside, and junior Nora Korn also jumped into action in the third set and collected two aces and three digs.
In Phoenix, Monnastes wants his team to be tested like never before. The Blazers have state experience, with a 2025 seventh-place trophy under their belts, but they’re seeded against three of the top-ranked teams in America in the Tournament of Champions.
“We want to experience a game from opponents that are bigger and stronger than us. Can we stay calm when the game is hard?” he said. “That way when we come back and we face an opponent like that, we can speed up our game, stay calm, and know how to control what we can control.”
Timberline (8-0, 6-0 Puget Sound League) will play three games in pool play on Friday, Oct. 2 and four games on Saturday, Oct. 3. Capital (4-4, 3-3 PSL) saw its three-game winning streak snapped with the loss to the Blazers but will look to start a new one at home against Lakes (4-2, 4-1 PSL) Monday, Oct. 5.
