Enough about football, right?

There's more to love about high-school sports, and I'd like to talk a little about one of my favorites -- volleyball. I've kind of become our high-school volleyball "expert," and I use the term very loosely, since Kentlake won those three state titles in 2000-01-02 behind the efforts of eventual-All American Courtney Thompson, a key cog in the Washington's national championship a couple of years ago (although Kentlake also had a half-dozen other very talented players, some of whom went on to enjoy successful college careers).

I've covered the past five state 4A or 3A tournaments (primarily 4A) and likely will be over in Kennewick for this year's event (I'm still mad at the Tacoma Dome officials for backing out on that all-classification tournament that was supposed to be there last fall to instead host a Dixie Chicks concert!). Mead of Spokane has been phenomenal, winning four 4A titles in a row, but frankly I'm ready for a West-side champion and we have some candidates in Kentwood of Covington, Rogers of Puyallup and Kamiak of Mukelteo, to mention a few.

Some of the state's top teams were at Auburn Mountainview yesterday for the Puget Sound Invitational. Kamiak, No. 6 in The Times' preseason rankings, beat No. 4 Rogers in the title match, 25-23, 25-23. Auburn Riverside, No. 7 in 3A, wound up third. The Ravens lost to Rogers in the semifinals, then beat Shadle Park of Spokane (No. 5 in 4A) in their final contest. Mind you, that third-place match consisted of one game, which Auburn Riverside won 25-15.

Inglemoor played Kamiakin of Kennewick in the match to decide fifth and sixth places, losing 25-22, 25-9. Kamiakin is rated No. 4 in 3A. Mount Si, No. 5 in 3A, was a rather disappointing 12th in the field of 16. Host Auburn Mountainview wound up 10th, beating Mount Si in a tight match along the way (25-22, 22-25, 17-15). Sumner was 13th and Bainbridge (ranked No. 8) took 14th.

We're going to see some great play in the South Puget Sound League 3A this season. Four of the eight teams made it to state last year (Auburn Mountainview, Auburn Riverside, Enumclaw and Sumner) and it looks like another solid group.