Unable to sustain the momentum from a dramatic third-set victory, Montesano was eliminated from the state Class 1A volleyball tournament on Saturday, Nov. 12.

Naches Valley outlasted the Bulldogs, 25-11, 25-17, 29-31, 25-20, in a loser-out match at the Yakima SunDome.

The Bulldogs went 1-2 at state and concluded their season at 17-3.

Monte staved off at least four match points before taking the marathon third set. The Bulldogs and Rangers were deadlocked at 13-13 in the fourth set before Naches Valley took six of the next eight points.

Senior Jordan Spradlin led the Bulldogs with 26 kills and three solo blocks. Shayla Floch contributed 18 kills, Hannah Hatcher 41 assists and 15 digs and Janessa Otterstetter 15 digs for Montesano. Floch, Josie Toyra, Hannah Manley and Josie Talley enjoyed 100 percent serving nights for Montesano, with Talley also bringing up 14 digs.

Following a split with Annie Wright and Kiona Benton on Friday, Montesano coach Debbie Gibson said Saturday’s match represented her team’s best performance of the tournament.

“I was really proud to take that game off them,” Gibson said. “We got beat by a better team.”

“We struggled a little bit Friday with consistency,” she added. “We definitely were not playing up to our standards. This morning, we came up against a great team. We played great, we just got beat by a better team.”

The tourney represented the volleyball swan song for seven Bulldog seniors.

“A great group of girls, a lot of big shoes to fill with seven seniors (gone),” Gibson concluded.

The day before, Montesano had retained its hopes for a state trophy by splitting a pair of matches in the state 1A Volleyball Championships on Friday, Nov. 11, at the SunDome in Yakima.

The Bulldogs lost a five-set thriller to Annie Wright of Tacoma, 21-25, 16-25, 25-14, 25-22, 15-13, in an opening-round match.

They stayed alive in the losers bracket later in the day by sweeping Kiona-Benton, 25-18, 25-21, 25-14.