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Camas wins volleyball thriller

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category icon Sports, Sports Local
The Papermakers go crazy after beating Union in the fifth set for the 4A district volleyball championship Wednesday, at Camas High School.

The Union Titans brought plenty of tricks to the Camas warehouse on Halloween, but they couldn’t scare the Papermakers.

Camas defeated their Lacamas Lake rivals 17-25, 25-13, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9 in a volleyball thriller that had fans on the edge of their seats watching the Papermakers rise from the grave and grab the 4A district championship.

“It’s the most adrenaline I’ve ever felt,” said sophomore outside hitter Lauren Harris. “We just wanted to get to everything for the team. I think that really showed on the court.”

Harris delivered some heart palpitating hits all night long. She racked up 13 kills in the contest to go with three blocks at the net.

Harris single-handedly brought Camas back from the dead after the team fell behind by seven points in the fourth set. After some thunderous kills by Lauren Neff, the Papermakers crept back within three. But then a net violation sent them back into a tailspin and they lost their advantage.

It would come down to one more game, winner take all.

“We just took a deep breath and said ‘we got this,'” Harris said. “We’re a family and we can pull through.”

Union grabbed the first two points in the race to 15, and Camas was already playing catch up. Neff nailed another block at the net, and Natalia Zea, Brindl Langley and Sophie Jacobson fired off kills. Suddenly, the scale tipped and the Papermakers applied more weight.

“No matter how tough it gets out there, you got to stay positive,” Zea said. “When we talk and we cheer ourselves up, we’re unstoppable.”

Zea slammed home three more winners, and it was game-set-match for Camas.

Zea finished with 8 kills, 7 digs and 2 blocks. Langley added 13 kills, 27 digs and 4 aces. Abbie Younkin anchored the attack with 43 assists, 22 digs and 2 aces. Abby Young gathered 31 digs. Neff owned the net with 8 kills and 2 blocks. Jacobson fired 5 kills and 3 blocks.

Camas enters Friday’s 4A bi-district tournament in Kent as the number-one seed. The Papermakers must finish in the top eight of the 16-team bracket in order to qualify for state for the ninth year in a row. Read Tuesday’s print edition of the Post-Record to find out if they made it.