By Conner Orr

The girls opened up the weekend by defeating Orting on Friday morning in three sets and then took on Ridgefield later that day. River won both the regular season affairs when they faced Ridgefield, and this game went similarly, with River prevailing in four sets, having only let up the third set. 

This set the girls up against the second seeded Burlington-Edison yesterday morning. The match started out close with the two teams splitting the first two sets. However, after that, River won back-to-back sets and punched their ticket, yet again, to the state championship final where they would take on Ellensburg.

The game, played just hours after the Burlington-Edison game, was highly anticipated considering where these two teams ranked in the postseason: River was the third seeded team, while Ellensburg was the first seeded team. 

The match started out strong for River as they won the first set 25-19, but for a while, it seemed as if that would be the last set they would win all year - Ellensburg won the second and third sets 25-23 and 25-13, respectively. Ellensburg, therefore, was one set away from winning state, and eventually only one point away from winning state. 

They held a 24-23 lead in the fourth set, however, that was when River shined. River pushed through the set and were able to win it 26-24. This left River just one set away from winning their fourth consecutive state championship, which they did - they won the set 15-8.