The White River High volleyball squad emerged from the South Puget Sound League 3A/Seamount League subdistrict tournament as the No. 1 seed into the West Central District tournament that begins Friday at Auburn Mountainview.

The Hornets finished the season tied with Auburn Mountainview, each with 7-1 records in SPSL 3A play.

The resilient Hornet bunch took five sets to beat Kennedy Catholic and then went five more with Auburn Mountainview to collect first-place laurels.

After beating Kennedy 22-25, 25-23, 25-15, 24-26 and 15-10, White River squared off against Auburn Mountainview, winning 25-19, 28-26, 10-25, 17-25 and 15-12.

“In the first game the Lion ladies made a lot of unforced hitting errors and missed serves, which is unusual for them,” coach Strydar Argo said. “The second game was an all out brawl but we somehow ended up winning that one.”

In games three and four the Hornets didn’t defend Mountainview’s strong offense and lost some momentum. In game five, White River fell behind early, but with the score at 9-8, Carley McCutchen had two consecutive stuff blocks that spurred the team to a sudden death win.

Also playing well against the Lions were Kelsi Tyler and Dannie Stroud, who teamed up to record 25 kills in the five games.

Argo said his team is excited to be moving on to the next phase of the playoffs as the top seed. In White River’s first round of district play at 3:30 p.m. Friday, the Hornets will lock horns with Peninsula High. The Seahawks entered the WCD tourney as the ninth seed.