Darrington is a small, small town caught in the embrace of the Cascades. But what happened there in 2001 was bigger than any mountain.
That was the year when the Darrington High School Loggers volleyball team emerged victorious in the Northwest B League, went onto win the Tri-District Tournament and, finally, under the bright lights of the Spokane Coliseum, came away with a sixth- place finish in the state finals, finishing higher than any female sport in Darrington history.
To see it all, as he has for the last 20 years, was head coach Greg Powell, a sort of grass roots, down-to-earth leader who said hed never seen a team love the game more.
That team had good athletes, not a lot of height, but who played well together, he recalled. They had a tremendous floor defense, played intelligently and there were several girls who loved volleyball. It was so important to them.
The team had chemistry galore, too, all the intangibles that make a team strong, Powell said. There were five returning players from a team that won its division in 2000.
For at least two decades, according to Powell, arch-rival Lopez Island High School had been the team to beat, a school that seemed to have cornered the market on winning championships. Analogous in many ways to the dreaded Snohomish High School football team, that seemed to take apart competitors at will.
But this year was different. The Loggers had the experience, the drive and as mentioned the love of the game on their side and they would not be denied. In league play against LI, the Loggers had managed to split wins, a feat in and of itself. But then in the Tri-District Tournament at the close of the season, the Loggers put the kibosh on LI, winning two of three.
Having won the district, the Loggers were off to the state competition held at Eastern Washington University and the championship rounds at the Coliseum in Spokane. The Loggers, full of enthusiasm, pounded Parteros, 2-0 and headed to Spokane. And thats where the season ended.
Its always a bittersweet thing, Powell said. Only one team goes home completely happy, so its a weird feeling that all this effort, energy and emotion goes from complete to nothing.
After the loss, Powell took the team aside and told the players that they had become the top female team in history at Darrington High School. He told them that was certainly something to be proud of, something they could hang onto for years.
It was a first for Darrington and in more than one way for Powell. It was the furthest hed taken the team, and perhaps the toughest hed been with a player. Harmony Perrault, a senior, had been a setter her whole career, but for the good of the team, Powell made her a right-side hitter.
The strategy was to develop a one setter offense, which generates more consistency. The job was between Perrault and Becky Nations and Powell gave it to Nations.
It broke her heart a little but I think she realized it was for the better of the team and she did have a great season, Powell said. I had suggested it to her when she was a junior and she cried and broke down, but as a senior, she accepted it.
This was where Powell, perhaps more than any other year, learned the subtleties of being a male coach for a girls volleyball team. With Harmony, Ill never forget coming back from Eastern Washington from an early season tournament and I mentioned that on the bus as a possibility and she couldnt handle it at the time, Powell said. It devastated her.
Even though the other players may have thought it was the right decision, Powell said the first inclination of the girls is always to comfort and help the person whos been suffering. As a male coach if you dont adjust your style and realize whats important to them, then I dont think a male coach can be successful, Powell added. You have to let them know how much you care about them personally. If you dont care, they dont care.
Over the years, Powell has learned how to motivate his players and they have responded, on average, with more wins.
It had been six years since Powell had coached Perrault. But earlier this summer, Powell had heard Perrault was in town, perhaps to plan for her wedding in mid August.
He invited her to help him at a volleyball camp for the current team. She happily agreed.