After knocking on the door the last several years, the Edmonds-Woodway girls volleyball is going to the state tournament. The Warriors started out sluggish but rallied to beat Arlington and take the match in four sets, 25-20, 25-15, 21-25 and 25-23

As has been their trend lately, Edmonds-Woodway came out of the gate slowly, falling behind 12-3. Undaunted, the girls from E-W slowly climbed back into the set, winning two or three points in a row, eventually taking the lead and pulling away to win by five. “We always seem to struggle at the start, not really doing out best,” said outside hitter Amanda Paavola.

The second set started just the opposite, with the Warriors jumping to a quick 9-2 lead. The teams then mostly traded points before E-W went on a 5-point run behind both the serving of Kelly Gootee and front-line play of Maddie Judd, who hit three straight winners, two kills and a “dink, ” extending the lead to 19-10. Arlington got as close as 20-14 before Samantha Hardan on serve finished with a 3-point run including an ace “floater” to end it.

Arlington took the third set with as the two teams went back-and-forth with neither team ahead by more than two, before the teams tied it at 18. Arlington won four straight points and the Warriors were unable to close the gap going on to fall 21-25.

In the fourth and final set, Amanda Paavola came alive, getting five kills. The teams were even through 14 before Arlington began to gradually pull ahead going up 19-16. After a side-out, Hannah Rehnfeldt took over at serve, scoring four straight to pull ahead by two, including an ace and a backcourt winner by the senior libero. “I wanted so bad to get there. My sister did it twice and we’ve been so close so many times,” said Rehnfeldt of going to state.

Arlington responded and tied it at 23, but E-W’s Missy Peterson caused a side-out and finished off the contest with a service ace for the final point and the match.

Paavola, who had 14 kills, said: “I just leaned on my team and they leaned on me a lot. We’ve been trying to go to state and we finally did it. I’m still kind of in shock.” Maddie Judd and Peterson added 10 kills. Rehnfeldt, in addition to her serving, led the Warriors with 25 digs. “I’m just so happy to finally get there. State will be so fun,” said Rehnfeldt.

Guaranteed a berth in state, the Warriors travel to Marysville-Pilchuck Saturday night to face the Tomahawks for the District 1 championship.

Arlington 20 15 25 23
E-Woodway 25 25 21 25

— By Jeff Smarr