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closeDedication pays off in the pool
Rogers Rams rise to the occasion, earn fourth place in water polo state tourney
Shaun Scott
Rogers Rams water polo head coach Debbie Turver’s team proved that competition in state tournaments isn’t necessarily a sprint, but a marathon.
When all the dust cleared after four games, Rogers emerged from the pool with possession of a fourth place finish at the state tournament on May 17 at the Rogers High School pool facility.
It was a long road to fourth place.
In the opening round of the tournament, Curtis, who ended up taking the state championship, destroyed Rogers 31-1 in the first game for both teams on May 14.
The loss didn’t effect the psyche of the Rams water polo squad. In fact, it had just the opposite effect.
“After that game, the girls were pumped up,” Turver said. “They said, ‘We want to do what they did to us in that game to the other teams we face in the tournament.’ We got fired up after that. They took what happened in that game and viewed it as a learning experience for the positive. After that game we played some of our best games of the season.”
In the Rams next game, they defeated Auburn-Riverside 8-4. It was the first time the Rams have defeated Auburn-Riverside this season. Rogers won its second consecutive game after edging out Wilson 7-6 to advance to the third/fourth place game against Peninsula High School.
“The game against Wilson I believe was the best game we’ve played all year long,” Turver said. “They are a top-notch team and we were able to get the win. The girls’ hard work paid off.”
The winning streak came to a halt after Peninsula nabbed a 13-4 victory against Rogers earning third place overall in the tournament.
Turver wasn’t disappointed with the loss, and was bubbling with pride regarding her teams’ fourth place finish at the biggest meet of the season.
“It was a phenomenal tournament for us,” Turver said. “We ended up placing higher in the tournament than Enumclaw, Auburn-Riverside and Puyallup. That’s a pretty awesome accomplishment considering they all had a better record than us during the season.”
Turver admitted there’s nothing like seeing a team rise to the occasion when the chips are down.
“This year we really climbed the ladder,” Turver said. “Every challenge we faced we rose up to it. We kept climbing and reaching higher. We did it step by step. We grasped what we needed to do and built on that since practice started. This tournament was a celebration of their hard work. It was awesome.”