MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Everyone in the Terraceum expected Emerson Alley to set the ball up to a teammate in the first set of Mountlake Terrace volleyball’s match against Cascade on Monday, and the senior setter used that to her advantage.
Noticing extra space in front of the net on Cascade’s side, Alley flicked both wrists at the last second to tip the ball over for a point. After giving Mountlake Terrace an 8-7 lead, Alley notched an assist on the next point, which came on another tip from junior Makenna Davidson before senior Lia Brown ended a long rally with a tip of her own to make it 10-7.
Even when Cascade reduced the real estate available in front, Mountlake Terrace kept finding ways to score. After pulling ahead 16-7 on a nine-point run during a 25-15 first-set victory, the Hawks (4-2) cruised to a 3-0 win (25-15, 25-15, 25-13) against the Bruins (1-3).
“We just saw they were pretty pulled back on their defense, so tipping it short was working well,” Alley said. “And then switching up every once in a while and pushing it deep, and then pulling it back short.”
Coming off an 8-10 season last year, Mountlake Terrace feels it’s poised to take a step forward into postseason contention. Under first-year coach Jean Kellogg, the former Lynnwood coach who joined the Hawks as interim coach in 2020 following an eight-year medical retirement, Mountlake Terrace is learning to control the game rather than react to it.
“I think they’re believing they can do it,” said Kellogg, who elevated to head coach from a series of assistant/sub-varsity roles in the years following her interim stint. “I think they’re understanding that the power is within them, and that they can control their play. So often we get out there, and you react to the ball. And the kids are learning ‘I can control the ball, and I can take the way I’m playing that day and still use my toolbox.’ You saw we tip, tip, tip, tip. That’s a new toolbox for us, you know, to move, to chip, tip, the shot into the corners, and to read the defense and play with your offense.”
Brown led the Hawks with 18 kills and 12 digs. Alley registered 26 assists while only playing the first two sets, and junior Kenzie Mahealani Bentosino had 25 digs and three aces. Sophomore Jillian Brown added 10 kills, and Davidson had 10 digs and six kills. For Cascade, senior Lucy Cox had six kills and one ace, and senior Maggie Christensen dished 15 assists with three kills and one ace.
For as much offense as Mountlake Terrace produced, multiple players expressed satisfaction with the defensive effort, which Kellogg said was an area the team has been looking to strengthen.
“I think we just had a ‘go’ mentality, honestly,” the libero Bentosino said. “I think we didn’t really let a ball drop. I think we just kept going for it no matter if we bumped into someone, or hit an elbow, we just went for it. I think that’s what made us successful on defense.”
Following the Hawks’ nine-point run in the first set, the Bruins cut the deficit to 17-13 with a kill and an ace from Cox on back-to-back points, but Mountlake Terrace strung together six more consecutive points — the majority scored by the Brown sisters — to stay out of reach. A Cascade serve into the net capped a 25-15 Hawks win.
The second set started slow for both sides, with each committing mistakes on alternating points to start out 6-6. A Cascade serve into the net gave Mountlake Terrace a 7-6 lead, and Alley assisted Lia Brown and junior Campbell Meek on back-to-back kills before pushing it to 10-6 with an ace.
The Bruins fought back within one point when junior Caleigh Tibig (four kills, one ace) scored kill to cap a long rally that included big digs from Cox and senior Kodie Rasmussen, but the Hawks regained a bigger lead with a kill from junior Claire Dalan and back-to-back aces from Meek to make it 16-11. Alley closed the set by assisting Lia Brown on three kills and delivering another ace, and Bentosino set up Jillian Brown for the set-clinching kill.
Kellogg said Mountlake Terrace is still learning the toughness required to push through mental lapses, but the team’s leaders displayed that they could weather such storms when called upon.
“It was pretty slow, so just working through that,” Alley said about the second set. “Trying to build our own speed and set our own pace.”
Kellogg shifted the roles around a little bit for the third set, not only giving some reserves more playing time but also deploying some starters on different areas of the court to practice problem-solving and seeing the game from different areas. It proved to be effective.
Davidson notched two straight kills to give Mountlake Terrace an early 7-2 lead, and she assisted Lia Brown to cap a four-point run that extended the lead to 12-5. The Hawks hit a snag with a couple mishit balls, which provided an opening for Cox to cut it to 15-11 with two kills in a row, but the Brown sisters stepped up again on the attack.
Mountlake Terrace closed the match with a seven-point run, highlighted by three aces from Bentosino and two more kills from Lia Brown, to secure the 3-0 sweep with a 25-13 set victory.
“I feel like we’re gelling as a team so much better this year,” Lia Brown said. “Everyone is just like, I don’t know, in it.”
For a Hawks team that has not qualified for the district tournament since 2022, and has not advanced past the opening/play-in rounds since 2013, this year feels like it could be a long-awaited step forward.
“We’re just trying to build that game to a competitive level to compete with Archbishop Murphy, Monroe and the top teams — Everett — and we’re moving there,” Kellogg said. “… That’s our goal, ultimately, is to get to districts and to compete to make that top four, five that go to state. So that’s our goal, is not only to get to districts but get to the next level. And I think we have the talent to do, and we’re just building it every day.”
