Kentwood and Tahoma have a great deal in common on the volleyball court.

They both lost a number of seniors — eight graduated from Tahoma and seven from Kentwood — from teams that went to state last year. Both felt they were underestimated by opponents as a result. And both are looking to get back to the 4A state championships in Kennewick in November.

Kentwood has had something to prove.

“We definitely heard from so many people that because we lost so many seniors, we basically were going to suck,” said outside hitter Erin Campbell. “So, we’ve basically been proving people wrong.”

The Conquerors have gone 7-1 in league, with their lone loss to the Bears in a five game marathon on Sept. 22, securing the no. 2 seed from the SPSL North heading into the subdistrict tournament this weekend at Todd Beamer High.

“We definitely had a strong season ever since Tahoma,” said Campbell, a senior co-captain. “We felt we didn’t play to our whole level against Tahoma. So, we’ve tried to play every game (since) like it’s a state championship.”

The strategy seems to have worked against other SPSL North opponents as Kentwood has worked to correct the mistakes it made against Tahoma.

“I guess we didn’t take Tahoma seriously,” Campbell said. “We’ve been focused on hitting and serving. Those have been our main focuses in practice.”

Coach Bil Caillier said one thing the Conquerors learned was “that Tahoma was a really good team. We believe that it’s not where you’re at but where you end that matters, so, it was pretty easy to move on,” Caillier said. “We’ve got some young kids. When we walk into a gym no one says, ‘There’s those beastly hitters.’ We knew we would have to be better as a collective group. We knew we had to serve and pass better.”

Heading into the postseason, Caillier said, the team is as prepared as it can be for the increasingly tougher competition Kentwood will face.

“You start out the season and you’re trying to put things in place so when the playoffs come, you’re prepared,” he said. “You don’t have a lot of time to tweak things.”

Kentwood setter Kacie Seims, a junior and co-captain, said volleyball is a mental game.

“We really need to focus on every point,” Seims said. “To make sure we give the full effort every time. One of our focuses is getting our game down… then work on how to strategize against the other team. We really have to make sure we serve aggressively and we have to make sure we are all giving our total effort.”

This year, the Conquerors want to start a new streak at state as they didn’t bring home hardware from the tournament for the first time in six years. They will start their postseason campaign against Curtis or Emerald Ridge on Saturday at the sub-district tournament.

Seims said everyone should know Kentwood won’t back down.

“We will fight,” Seims said.

Tahoma knows all too well just how hard Kentwood will battle as it took five games for the two teams to settle the contest on Sept. 22.

The Bears came out victorious en route to a perfect league record, finishing 8-0 in the SPSL North, earning the first division title since Tahoma joined the league in 1997.

And oh, what a difference a year makes, as Tahoma was at 5-5 in league this time last year, explained coach Sally Eager.

“We were in a three way tie for fourth,” Eager recalled. “We had to play a pig-tail game. We had one chance (to make the playoffs). We beat Kent-Meridian in three.”

And then they went on to shock Graham-Kapowsin and Lakes in the first two games of the West Central District tournament after coming out as the 10th seed from the SPSL.

It was the first time in more than 30 years that Tahoma had gone to state.

Ever since then, Eager has been building off that success, telling the girls they deserve to win and working to get them to see the potential to not just get to state but to win matches and maybe more.

“It’s a big turnaround,” Eager said. “We have a lot of talent here. The issue was playing as a team and learning to win together.”

Senior co-captain Taylor Schroeder, who is a libero or defensive specialist, said this year the Bears have progressed significantly thanks to a number of factors.

“We set goals before we played a game, so, I think we’re more prepared that way,” Schroeder said. “We’ve learned how to work with (Eager) and she’s learned how to work with us. There’s no drama and everyone’s communicating.”

And then they beat Kentwood, which raised Tahoma’s confidence significantly, and Schroeder knows they can’t sneak up on anyone and take them by surprise like they did last year at the district tournament thanks to that 8-0 league record.

“That could potentially intimidate other teams,” she said. “Because even if we’re down, we can still come back. We have a lot higher expectations, especially going undefeated in league, and we’re more confident.”

Schroeder added that volleyball is as much mental as it is physical and heading into the playoffs the Bears need to have the right attitude, a winning attitude, in order to live up to their potential.

Morgan Murrey, a senior outside hitter and co-captain, explained that Tahoma will need to pass well.

“Without passing, you won’t be able to set and without setting you won’t be able to get kills,” Murrey said. “We’ve got to focus, don’t play too cocky, we have to play smart. We just need to have that good mindset heading into Saturday.”

Both Murrey and Schroeder are thrilled to have gone undefeated in league but they’re looking forward to taking on Graham-Kapowsin at 3 p.m. on Saturday for the SPSL title. This is a re-match not just of the playoffs last season but a non-league contest earlier this year in which the Bears fell 3-2.

Winning will not only mean hanging a banner in the Tahoma gym, explained Eager, it will mean a better seed into districts which sets her team up well to earn another state berth.

“Then if we make it to state, not have to play a Mead or this year, Richland,” she said. “I’m just getting them ready… right now with game situations and situational play. I’m not going to be able to change someone’s spike approach. They’re going to be facing tough competition no matter what and they need to be ready.”