Prep Volleyball Roundup: Scores and reports from The Blast Zone

Rivalry Renewed — Naselle knocks out Wahkiakum at District Tournament

An absent minded athletic director who won’t be named walks into the frame just as a Blast Zone Media reporter snaps would would have been a perfect stock photo. — Blast Zone Media

Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com

TOLEDO — When Wahkiakum dropped down from the Central 2B League to the 1B ranks in the offseason due to reclassification it seemed obvious that the move would reignite an old rivalry with Naselle. After all, the two burgs of the Lower Columbia are separated by just 30 miles as the river winds, and they’ve even got a traditional nickname for the big games between the Mules and Comets — The Battle of KM Mountain.

Well, everything obvious doesn’t always come true and that proved to be the case when the Highway 4 neighbors were placed into separate leagues before the season started. As a result, the Mules and Comets played just one early season non-league contest during the regular season.

“They cut it at KM Mountain, which is weird,” Wahkiakum coach Kayli Hurley said.

But old rivalries have a way of rekindling one way or another, no matter what the decision makers do. That was certainly the case Tuesday night when the KM Mountain Roadshow came to Toledo for a 1B District IV Volleyball Tournament elimination game on Murdock Court. The Mules came up on the wrong end of the skirmish way up the road in South Lewis County, falling in four sets with scores of 25-12, 22-25, 25-12 and 25-18.

Naselle won the opening set in convincing fashion before the Mules began to kick back. Jessie Smith led the Comets with 17 assists, eight aces and four digs.

“Wahkiakum went on a serving run and caught fire, taking the second set,” Naselle coach Rebekah Wirkkala said. “Wahkiakum is always so scrappy and had some great saves.”