By Grant Clark
Rylee White had not played volleyball in nearly 12 months, electing to forego the sport during her sophomore year at W.F. West High School. So, by the time she arrived at Napavine after transferring to the school prior to the start of her junior season, she just figured it was something that was now in her past.
“I didn’t really know anyone on the team. I was starting at a new school,” White said. “I just kind of accepted the fact that I would never play again.”
Encouragement from a friend outside the team, however, convinced White to at least test the waters at Napavine. If she didn’t like it, nothing ventured, right?
But that wasn’t the case.
“It felt like I belonged the moment I started practicing with them. It just felt comfortable. Everyone was positive. Everyone was friendly,” White said. “I would have missed out on a lot had I not decided to turn out.”
One of two seniors on the Tigers roster, White would have certainly missed out on a ton of experiences had she opted to stay on the sideline.
Tops on that list is the fact that for just the second time in school history Napavine is heading to the state tournament in consecutive years.
Following on the heels of a stellar regular season, which saw the Tigers capture the 2B Central League championship, Napavine is once again headed to Yakima to compete for the state championship, joining the 1998 and 1999 teams as the only teams to make back-to-back state appearances.
The Tigers accomplished the feat by sweeping Darrington and Mossyrock in the first two rounds of the district tournament. Their 11-match winning streak was snapped on November 4 by undefeated La Conner in the semifinals after a thrilling five-set match (26-24, 20-25, 25-21, 29-27, 15-5), but despite the loss the Tigers still have plenty of volleyball left to play this season.
“This team is just comfortable with each other,” said coach Monica Dailey, who led Napavine to a seventh-place finish at last year’s state tournament. “They enjoy being around each other. You can’t say that about every team you coach. They laugh around, but still know they can turn that switch when they need to get serious.”
Two controllers of that switch are captains White and Angel Parker, the only two seniors on a roster filled with talented underclassmen.
“It’s great having both of them as captains. They are so different personality-wise on the court,” Dailey said. “Angel doesn’t get real emotional. She’s always level headed and keeps the girls even-keeled. Rylee is always offering up encouragement. Whenever someone is down she’s there to lift them up. She’s always championing the underdog.”
The Tigers capped last year with a deep run at the state tournament. After dropping their first match to Davenport, Napavine swept its next two opponents – Brewster and Life Christian Academy – before knocking off Darrington, 3-1, to take home some hardware.
“I think it was just nerves in that first match,” White said. “It was the first time for a lot of us playing at the state tournament, but once we got through that first match everyone started playing incredible.”
The Tigers (15-2) have carried over that success into this season as they opened the year with four wins before falling to rival Toutle Lake, 3-1, on September 29. The team’s lengthy winning streak would followed, highlighted by a regular season finale victory over Toutle Lake in the rematch with the Tigers.
Napavine won 3-2 (25-17, 16-25, 15-26, 25-21, 15-13) after battling back from a 2-1 deficit.
“That win has been my favorite memory so far,” White said. “We haven’t had much success against Toutle Lake leading up to that game, but we came into that match really fired up. It was Senior Night. You couldn’t ask for a better way to end the regular season than beating them at home.”
Sophomore Mollie Olson paced Napavine’s offense in the win over Toutle Lake, registering a season-high kills.
Olson, who also holds the honor with White and Parker as team captain, leads the team with 243 kills and is attacking at a solid .286 percent clip, while fellow sophomore Melissa Lee and junior Jordin Pruett are second and third with 134 and 117 kills, respectively.
Five players have 27 or more aces on the team with Pruett’s 63 leading the way, and six players have 100 or more digs, headed by Pruett’s 246.
“The season has just been amazing so far,” White said. “The competition is just going to get tougher from here on out, but we’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. I think if we can just get through that first match at state we can make another run.”
The 2B state volleyball tournament will be held November 13 and 14 at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
