In an instant classic, the Bellevue Wolverines prevailed in 5 tightly contested sets to win their second straight KingCo 3A title on Thursday night.

From the first serve, you could tell the Interlake Saints weren't about to roll over to the regular season champion Wolverines.  The first set was back and forth, with some uncharacteristic serving problems for Bellevue, and suddenly Bellevue was looking at a 24-21 deficit.  But demonstrating the grit they have shown all season, Bellevue ran off the last five points and took the first set 26-24.

​

The second was similarly tight, with great all-around play from both teams and some very entertaining volleyball for the fans.  Again, Interlake looked like they might cruise to victory with a 22-18 lead, but Bellevue hung tough and knotted it up at 24-24.  It was tied up again at 25 before the Wolverines put the match away 27-25 with successive kills.

​

When Bellevue jumped out to a 9-2 lead in Game 3, it looked like they may have broken the will of the Saints and that the tournament title would be theirs.  But Interlake started to claw their way back, and pretty soon the match was knotted at 14.  It was back and forth from then on, but Interlake pulled away for the win in the end, 25-23.

​

Riding the momentum from set 3, Interlake jumped out to a 6-1 lead, and were up 8-3 early in the set.  Now it was Bellevue's turn to claw their way back, and behind some incredible defense and timely hitting, they evened the match at 21-21.  They ended up pullling ahead 24-23 and had their first match point, but unfortunately couldn't close the set.  Interlake scored the final three points to win 26-24 and knot the match at 2-2.   

​

Four sets played, with three going to overtime.  All decided by two points.  And ironically, the cumulative point score knotted at 100-100.  Could these teams be any more competitive on this night in Kirkland?  It was on to set #5.

​

Bellevue jumped out to 3-0, 4-2, and 7-4 leads.  They were ahead the whole set, extending their lead to 13-8 before Interlake rode a couple of kills to 13-10.  Bellevue then sided out and was looking at 4 match points at 14-10.  Interlake made some incredible saves and blocks to pull to 14-13 before Bellevue finally delivered the final dagger and prevailed 15-13.  Wow!!

​

Congratulations to all of the players and to the coaching staff!  This particular match required everyone to leave it on the floor, and they did. Two successive KingCo season and tournament titles is quite an accomplishment.  

​

They will now move on to the SeaKing tournament as the #1 seed out of KingCo and will play their first match on Thursday, November 14th at Sammamish High School.  The SeaKing tournament bracket can be found here.