Shorewood High School stood as the setting of an epic rematch between the Arlington Eagles and the Glacier Peak Grizzlies Thursday, November 5. Their previous meeting this season ended with Arlington prevailing over Glacier Peak. The Grizzlies sought vengeance this time around.

Glacier Peak was quick to send a message, and the Eagles’ squad was caught a little off guard. Grizzlies’ junior Lauren Sanders (‘17) recorded a team high 20 kills. The Griz won sets one and two by scores of 25-18 and 25-17, respectively. Despite being sidelined by a back injury, AHS captain Ally Peterson (‘17) “had faith in the girls on the court and… knew they had it in them to push through the end.”

The Eagles came back, though. Set number three was a closely contested battle between the teams. As the match wore on, the sides played each other evenly. About midway through the set, the scoreboard read 10-10. Each team battled, and Arlington eventually held a 23-20 led before the Grizzlies rallied to make the score 24 all. Mackenzie Massey (‘17) of Arlington ultimately led the Eagles to a 26-24 victory in the set, as she recorded a handful of vital kills and a couple more clutch blocks.

After the teams transitioned sides, Arlington built off of their momentum of the previous set and led by scores of 5-1,14-6, and eventually 20-9 before the Grizzlies called their second timeout of the set. The timeout stood as a definite point of the match where the momentum switched. Glacier Peak rallied to cut the score to 23-21 before AHS senior Audrey Randles (‘16) scored on a spike that deflected off of a Glacier player. Randles then went on to score on the ensuing serve to end the set 25-21 and take the match into a decisive fifth set with the fate of two teams’ season lay in the balance. The potentially final set for ten seniors came into being.

Glacier Peak started off on a 4-0 run as the final set began and never looked back. despite a furious 5-2 run led by Arlington junior Morgan Van Laar (‘17), the Grizzlies won with a 15-7 score to exhaust the Eagles’ season.  

The Grizzlies advance in post season play to face the Wildcats from Oak Harbor on Saturday, October 7 at 11 AM.

The Eagles hope to build on the positives from this year as they move into the off season with eleven non-seniors looking to return next season. “I think we learned a lot about how to handle losses and to learn from our mistakes. And next season we are capable of so much,” Peterson speculated when asked about building for next year. “I know each and every one of us are ready to put in the work in order to get the results we want.”