Girls end season against Lynden

The South Whidbey volleyball team had a chance to advance in district playoffs Saturday, but instead ended their season with a three-straight-game loss to the Lynden Lions.

The Lions pulled off a 25-20, 25-21 and 25-16 sweep of the Falcons at Lakewood High School, then won in four over Anacortes to stay in contention at state.

South Whidbey ended its winning season 8-6 in the Cascade Conference, 9-8 overall.

Falcon co-captain Allison Wood was at a loss to explain what happened.

“Yeah, it could have gone better,” she reflected on Monday. “We certainly didn’t play to our potential. There wasn’t any single thing or person responsible; all of us can take credit for the loss. We had a really good season, and we are disappointed in the outcome.”

Wood put on a show on offense with 17 kills, said Falcon coach Mandy Jones.

“But in the game of volleyball there are six players on the court who all need to step up and play their roll,” she added. “Cayla Calderwood had a good match with five kills and four blocks. Brittany Wood had 10 digs and Kelsie Dorpat had 23 assists. Lynden put up a good fight and ultimately wanted it more then we did.

“Our passing hurt us in the beginning, and our blocking hurt us throughout the match,” she said. “However, it’s hard for me to be upset because we made it farther then we did last year. It was just frustrating because it was right in the palm of our hand and we just had to reach out and grab it.”

Jones is spearheading a revived volleyball program by starting a club team on Whidbey Island to offer girls the opportunity to play volleyball year-round.

“Fortunately, we have a great group of incoming freshmen, whom I am very excited to start working with in June,” she said.

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