ONALASKA — For the second year in a row, Rainier finished third in the C2BL standings and faced off against the P2BL’s No. 2 seed in the district quarterfinals.
Last year, the Mountaineers swept Raymond-South Bend to advance to the district semifinals.
Saturday’s matchup in Onalaska felt very similar to Rainier’s district opener in 2024, as the Mountaineers swept Forks 25-14, 25-9, 25-17 in a dominant display to open their postseason run.
“We did come out a little quieter than we normally play,” Rainier coach Carrie Ooms said. “But we did still come out strong and kept the gas on it the whole way.”
The Mountaineers took control early, taking a 16-5 lead in the first set before building a 14-5 lead in the second set en route to taking a commanding 2-0 lead.
Forks battled in the third set, tying it at 10, 11, and 13 near the halfway mark, but Rainier went on a 6-0 run from there to build a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Allyson Ooms had 15 kills, 14 digs, a block, and was perfect from the service line, while Anika Plowman had 11k kills, seven blocks, and four digs.
Katelyn Eckroth added 17 assists, six digs, and four aces, and Liberty Adair finished with 21 digs and no service errors.
Carrie Ooms began crediting multiple players one by one before ultimately crediting the entire team with the victory.
“It takes the six you’ve got to be successful,” Carrie Ooms said.
The Mountaineers will now turn towards the district semifinals, which are made up of four C2BL teams and will be in Adna on Wednesday.
Rainier will face Onalaska, which swept Mossyrock later Saturday afternoon. The winner of that will punch their ticket to state and face either Toutle Lake or Toledo for the district crown on Saturday in Adna.
If the Mountaineers (14-4) are able to defeat the top-seeded Loggers, they would advance to their first district title game in school history.
It’ll be the third time that Rainier and Onalaska have met this season. Rainier won the non-league meeting at home on Sept. 23 in five, but lost the league matchup in Onalaska on Oct. 2 in four.
“I think at this point everybody’s kind of at where they’re at,” Carrie Ooms said. “I do like that on Wednesday, we’re gonna be on a kind of neutral ground. Nobody gets the home court advantage, which it’s anybody’s game at that point … We just want to come in strong.”
