WHITE SALMON —Columbia High School’s (CHS) district playoff hopes ended on the final week of the regular season when the Bruins split two Trico League matches to finish in a tie for sixth place. Columbia needed a sweep of those matches to have a chance at postseason play. The Bruins opened the week with a, 3-1, win Oct.
29 against visiting Castle Rock. But Stevenson ended Columbia’s season by beating the Bruins, 26-24, 25-13, 25-21, two days later. The loss enabled Kalama to finish in fifth place and earn a spot in a play-in match against the fourth-place team from the Evergreen Conference, with a district tournament berth at stake.
Kalama won that match over Elma to qualify for this week’s district playoffs. Columbia had beaten Kalama, 3-1, two weeks ago to keep its playoff hopes alive. The Chinooks had beaten CHS, 3-2, earlier this season.
In similar fashion, Castle Rock had beaten Columbia in the first meeting between the two teams in October. Columbia, bolstered by a vocal student section, topped the Rockets the second time around, 25-18, 25-11, 22-25, 25-17. Columbia took control of the match by outscoring Castle Rock 13-6 to win the first set and carrying that momentum into the second set.
A 9-0 burst to open the second set enabled the Bruins to remain ahead by at least that margin the rest of the way. Castle Rock pulled away from a 5-5 tie to win set No. 3, while Columbia recovered from an early deficit to win set No.
4 and the match. Stevenson wouldn’t let C.
