Monte volleyball tops Hoquiam for league crown

Montesano volleyball is at the top Evergreen 1A League.  Jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Bulldogs held off a late push by the Grizzlies to win 3-1 at Hoquiam Square Garden and claim the league championship.

“These girls have come a long way since the beginning of the season,” said Montesano Head Coach Cindy Wecker.  “I am beyond proud.”

Montesano took the first game with relative ease 25-13.  The rest of the night was anything but easy as Hoquiam refused to give up the league title they won in 2022, without a fight.  The Grizzlies dropped the second game 25-22 and took the third game 25-20.  But with the championship in their sites, Montesano took the fourth and deciding game by a 25-22 mark to move to 8-0 in league play (10-6 overall) and claim the crown.

“We knew tonight’s game was going to be tough. To beat Hoquiam at Hoquiam is never easy. We had a talk before we even got off the bus about the best way to shut the student section down was to put the ball on the floor and that’s just what we did,” said Wecker.   “We also talked about playing confident, believing in themselves and not playing nervously, just going out and having fun!  The girls played smart, mixing things up which made it tough on Hoquiam’s defense. Things really came together, great passing leads to great sets which leads to great hitting, every part was working tonight.”

“This loss was on me. I should have had them better prepared mentally and a better game plan,” said Hoquiam Coach Heather Bozich.  “Monte played so aggressively and beat us with power.”

Hoquiam ends play with a 7-1 record (11-5 overall) and will advance with the Bulldogs to the district tournament.

“We have a battle ahead of us, but we’ll be ready,” said Bozich.