The Wenatchee High School volleyball earned a berth into the State tournament with a 3-2 win over Moses Lake in the District semifinal. WHS was then defeated by Puyallup 3-1 and Rogers (Puyallup)  3-0  in the State tournament, ending its season.

“The teams we face at State play very differently than the teams in our league, so it was hard to tell how things would go,” senior Rachel Leiber said.

The team’s goal for the season was to become District champions and in turn go to State, so Branam sees the year as an overall success.

“We definitely could’ve won and gone farther, but it just didn’t happen for us. It wasn’t so much that we didn’t get better and execute, it was just that (Eisenhower High School) improved a lot and really caught us off guard,” Branam said.

The varsity squad lost almost all of its players last year, due to graduation, but the new squad was able to make it just as far as the senior-heavy team. Branam credits this to the senior leadership of the new class, specifically senior Morghan Funk, who is Branam’s “All-Star” for the year.

Nevertheless, Branam doesn’t seem worried about next year, “We’re losing a lot of great girls out there, but many of the underclassmen girls are rising up to be great leaders,” she said.