Prep volleyball: Kela Williams' cat-like reflexes helping Mt. Spokane surge early in season

Few things get volleyball fans excited like a powerful kill or a timely ace, but Mt. Spokane’s Kela Williams is on a mission to prove that defense can get a crowd just as loud.

And Tuesday night in the Wildcats’ gym against rival Mead, Williams showed off her cat-like reflexes time and time again.

39 times in fact – a new school single-game record for digs, breaking the record of 35 she set in a match against Ferris as a freshman.

“She is the heart of our team defensively, and is all over the floor,” Mt. Spokane coach Darcy McMurray said after the 25-19, 26-24, 23-25, 25-19 victory over the Panthers. “Nothing drops on her. She’s steady, she’s consistent, she leads us in serve and receive and she leads us in defense.

“There’s just never a doubt that she is going to come through when we need it.”

Williams, still only a junior, started as the Wildcats libero – also known as a defensive specialist – as a freshman, before earning first-team all-GSL honors last season.

She said that in that time on the court – along with the trust she has earned from her coaches – the game has slowed down tremendously.

“You know, I think it’s just a lot of time put in. I’ve like been around volleyball my whole life,” Williams said. “At this point now it’s kind of slowed down in my brain. The situations I’ve been in, it’s not as fast to me in my brain when I process it.”

Williams also loves that the Mt. Spokane fans appreciate the impact a momentum-shifting dig can have on a point and even a match.

During Tuesday’s fourth and final set, Williams delivered back-to-back moments that set the tone for the Wildcats. Leading 13-11, a long rally turned into a scramble drill and Williams pushed a driving set perfectly onto the back-right corner line. The next point ended the same way, this time in the back-left corner, to put the Wildcats up 15-11 and in control to close out the match.

“A lot of those moments are instinct, but also it’s experience for me,” Williams said. “We practice so hard as a team each day to be in any situation and so when it comes up in a match I have the confidence to finish the point for my team.”

McMurray said that she and the rest of the coaching staff and quickly learned to trust Williams’ instincts and her ability to lead on the court. And between having Williams as a safety valve, along with a strong set of blockers – Mt. Spokane’s defensive prowess has been a key in the team’s 5-1 start.

“Even on the nights where our biggest hitters are a bit off, the defense has been able to weather the storm a lot like we had to tonight,” McMurray said.

McMurray and Williams admitted that the Wildcats still have plenty of room for improvement, but with several starters back from last season’s team which took third in the 3A state tournament, the hope is this team can use the building blocks to challenge for a title.

“We have such a strong core back from last year and the four seniors that we lost really left a legacy for us to follow,” Williams said. “And the seniors we have this year want to build on that. I think it’s important for us to want to improve on what was done before and create that legacy for ourselves and the next group behind us.”

Strong field set for Sheridan-Welch Crossover

As the Sheridan-Welch Crossover Classic volleyball tournament has grown over the past 30 years, so has the distance some teams travel to come play in the prestigious event.

Although it is not uncommon for teams to trek over Snoqualmie Pass or from small towns in Idaho, this year’s event features a school coming all the way from The Last Frontier.

Joining host Shadle Park in the tournament’s “Pool A” this weekend will be the Chugiak Mustangs, a squad making the trip down from Chugiak, Alaska – a town 25 minutes northwest of Anchorage.

“We were just looking for a tournament out-of-state that we could travel to and this one came up,” Chugiak coach Cera Jondrow said. “We loved the idea of a two-day tournament, especially since we are pretty deep into our season and this will be nice to break up the monotony for the girls.”

Also making up the 64-team field are nine of the 10 GSL 4A/3A teams, several GSL 2A programs and many teams from around Washington and Idaho.

The tournament honors Spokane volleyball legends Linda Sheridan and Buzzie Welch, longtime high school coaches that died in 2013 and 2018 respectively.

Teams will begin pool play Friday night and continue Saturday morning at either Shadle Park, Lewis and Clark, Ferris or Rogers High Schools. Pool winners will then move to the Gold Bracket Saturday afternoon at Shadle Park, while the Silver, Bronze and Copper Brackets will be played at LC, Ferris and Rogers respectively.

Championship matches are expected to begin around 5 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students with GSL passes not accepted. Tickets are good for the any site during the tournament.