Prep volleyball: Warriors outlast Mavs as coach, former assistant meet in rivalry game

During his time as coach of Meadowdale High School’s volleyball team, Bart Foley led the Mavericks to winning records and a pair of appearances at the WIAA state volleyball tournament in Yakima. But then Foley resigned after the 2023 season for family reasons, leaving the Mavericks in the hands of one of his former assistants there, Emily Carroll. 

Now in his new role as coach of the rival Edmonds-Woodway Warriors, Foley returned to Meadowdale High School on Wednesday for a big Wesco League matchup between his undefeated Warrior squad and the Carroll-led Mavericks. 

Before highly charged fans from both schools, Foley and his E-W team survived their venture into the Stable and their clash with a spirited Mavs’ squad, outlasting Meadowdale 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 15-7) to escape with the victory.

The Warriors (4-0 in the 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 7-0 overall) trailed in all five sets during Wednesday’s match but rallied in three of them to take home the win.

“We pulled through,” said Edmonds-Woodway’s Sawyer Hiatt. “I think our team has a lot of perseverance. I think we worked really hard. I think our energy is really good, even when we’re behind. I think we know how to pick each other up and keep each other going.”

Meadowdale jumped all over the slow-starting Warriors early on, leading 14-5 and then holding on to win the first set 25-17. But E-W prevailed in a close second set by taking eight of its final 11 points, helped along by three aces by sophomore Chloe Chan.

The Warriors started showing their muscle in the third set, scoring more than half of their set points with kills — four each were recorded by Hiatt and teammate Ava Bartin.

Hiatt totaled 16 kills in the match to lead the Warriors. The sophomore, who had previously served as a middle blocker during her early volleyball career, has grown to love her new role as an outside hitter this year at E-W.

“I like the pressure,” Hiatt said. “I think it makes me better.”

“And I like being a leader on the court,” she continued. “I think it’s an important role and I take pride in being an outside hitter.”

Addyson Pontak had 37 digs for the Warriors on Wednesday. Neeva Travis recorded 29 assists while Makayla Hansen came off the bench to add 10 assists.

After grabbing a fourth-set victory 25-22 and jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the fifth and deciding set, the upset-minded Mavericks (0-5 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 2-6 overall) ran out of gas late as E-W went on a 15-4 run to close out the set and slip away with the match win.

“I think we needed to make less mistakes, honestly,” Carroll said after the Mavs’ loss. “This was our game and I think we lost it.”

“Volleyball is a game of mistakes; it really comes down to who makes more mistakes,” she added. “And tonight we made a couple more mistakes than they did.”

Carroll said that those on her Mavericks’ squad who had played under Foley’s leadership the past two seasons were affected some by his return to the Stable.

“I think just for returners there’s some mixed feelings,” Carroll said. “It was hard. (But) my girls handled it amazingly.”

While her squad came up short Wednesday, Carroll was upbeat with the performance she saw from her team.

“My girls fought so hard,” she said. “None of us are upset about this outcome. We are all so proud of ourselves. We played our hearts out tonight under a weird circumstance. We stayed positive, we stayed with our heads held high and we showed amazing sportsmanship. And I’m really proud of my girls for doing that, even with the tough loss.”

“Ultimately, I think that we played an amazing volleyball game tonight,” Carroll said. “We were scrappy, we were all over the place and, again, my girls walked out with smiles on their faces. And that’s all that matters to me.”

Ja’elle Jenkins had 14 kills for the Mavs on Wednesday; Connie Boenarjo tallied 20 digs while Jacqueline Tang recorded seven kills and six blocks for Meadowdale.

The Mavericks do get a second chance at their former coach and his Warriors as the two teams will meet again on Wednesday, Oct. 15, at Edmonds-Woodway High School. But before their rematch with Meadowdale, Hiatt and her E-W teammates have some other high-profile dates that they’re looking forward to.

“We have (matches with) some good teams coming up,” Hiatt said, “Archbishop Murphy, Lynnwood –I’ve heard they’re pretty good. But we’ll just take it one game at a time and we’ll work hard.”

Prep Volleyball: Edmonds-Woodway at Meadowdale, Oct. 2

Edmonds-Woodway 3 – Meadowdale 2 (17-25, 25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 15-7)

Records: Edmonds-Woodway 4-0 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 7-0 overall; Meadowdale 0-5 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 2-6 overall

Edmonds-Woodway next match: versus Lynnwood; Monday, Oct. 7; 7 p.m. at Edmonds-Woodway High School

Meadowdale next match: versus Jackson; Tuesday, Oct. 8; 7 p.m. at Meadowdale High School

— By Doug Petrowski