Honkers sink Pirates, face Yreka in championship

Two days after shocking No. 2 seed Sutter High, Wheatland High's volleyball team ran into a Honkers squad at the top of their game.

Willows High avoided becoming the Pirates' second victim by dominating the first and third games to earn a berth in the Northern Section Division IV Championship match against Yreka High at 3 p.m. Saturday at Red Bluff High.

The only time the Pirates challenged the Honkers was during the second game, tying the score at 19-19 before Willows scored the final six points of the match. Willows won all three games 25-12, 25-19, 25-15.

It would have been easy for the Honkers to be overconfident against a team they beat twice in the regular season, but not after Wheatland upset Sutter on Tuesday.

Willows coach Carol Martin was surprised the match wasn't more competitive because the 10th-seeded Pirates won on the road Tuesday against a Sutter team which has been nearly unbeatable for many years, she said.

"I was pretty nervous," Martin said. "My girls just showed up to play and played tough. They were hitting well and passing well - my setter was on fire."

Her setter, Colleen Tade, spread the ball around to the Honkers' five other starters who each had at least three kills, and to top it off, Tade made the match-winning kill.

For the second game in a row the No. 3 Honkers (32-7, 9-1 Sacramento Valley League champions) will face a team coming off a shocking upset when they play Yreka on Saturday for the Division IV title.

The Miners (25-10, 5-4 Northern Athletic League runners-up) stunned top-seeded West Valley High (34-7, 8-0 NAL champions) on Thursday by rallying back from a two-game deficit 18-25, 14-25, 25-20, 30-28, 18-16. Fourth-seeded seed Yreka had a bye in round one and beat Orland to reach the semifinals.

The championship match will be second time Willows plays Yreka. The Honkers beat the Miners 25-17, 26-27, 15-11 during the Red Bluff Invitational on Sept. 17.

Willows enters the championship match playing some of their best volleyball of the season, topping their strong performance against Gridley Tuesday with how they played against Wheatland, Martin said.

The Honkers found their footing early in the first game, surging to an early 12-5 lead and continued to widen the gap the rest of the way to open with a 25-12 win. Megan Hughes had a huge first game with three kills, two aces and a block, and Ally Brunner slammed home five kills.

Wheatland went ahead 8-3 but Martin called a time-out and the Honkers went on a six-point run to take the lead. The Pirates fought back from deficits of five and three points to tie the game at 19-19 but Willows scored the final six points of the game, capped off by a Tade block.

Hughes opened Game 3 with a kill and later made a block to move the Honkers' lead to 15-7. Hughes, despite her small stature, disrupted numerous Wheatland shots throughout the match.

"You just have to time it and look to see where they're going," Hughes said.

Erika Click made back-to-back kills and Tade followed up with two of her own for a 24-12 lead before the Pirates put together a small rally. Tade then closed the door with her winning kill.

CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.