ELLENSBURG — A loss is still a loss, but even then, the Bulldogs look primed for a postseason run.

The Ellensburg High School girls’ soccer team dodged a few bullets and fired a few of its own, but it couldn’t deliver the finishing blow as it fell to first-place Selah on penalty kicks on senior day Tuesday, 2-1.

The Bulldogs and Vikings matched each other, shot-for-shot, through five penalty kicks before Selah pulled away with the sixth attempt.

Win or lose, the Bulldogs were in line to have a home playoff game on Thursday. This was just a warm-up.

“We had really nice opportunities,” said head coach Glenn Weitz. “But this game is just a game of breaks and little mistakes.”

The Bulldogs (8-5) certainly caught more than their fair share of breaks in the first half. The Vikings’ first threat, one-on-one with the keeper, went for nothing as a strong shot ricocheted off the corner of the left post and across the field. On their next threat, the Vikings (11-2) had several girls in the box with keeper Lianne Day out of the picture, as she dove to the ground to make a stop. The Vikings only needed to tap the ball across the line into the goal, but the Bulldog defenders kept enough pressure on the Vikings to prevent them from scoring until they cleared the ball.

“Lianne did a great job,” Weitz said. “She had a couple saves that were almost double saves, with the ball bouncing around in there. I think she had 14 saves tonight.”

The momentum carried over to the offense, as the Bulldogs scored their only goal shortly thereafter, on a cross by Keilin Farrand to Katelyn Ronning, who redirected the shot into the goal for a 1-0 EHS lead.

The score remained that way through halftime, when the EHS seniors were recognized. Selah didn’t threaten as often in the second half, but it was able to make something happen just once, as a Viking striker took the ball near midfield, dribbled past several Bulldogs and found the back of the net to tie the game in the 47th minute.

“We just didn’t challenge well there,” Weitz said. “We should have had someone jump in her face, but we didn’t.”

Then the defenses took over through regulation and two overtime periods before the shootout.

The Bulldogs knew they could compete with Selah. They lost by a goal in the season’s first meeting, and they’ve been on a roll of late. At one point, this team was 2-4, but the Bulldogs had rolled off six straight league wins before Tuesday’s defeat.

The Bulldogs will begin district tournament play Thursday at home. The time and opponent are currently TBA. The Bulldogs will need a victory in that game to stay alive to face Prosser on Saturday.

“We’ve been playing quite well,” Weitz said. “This is a good time to go into the playoffs.”

ENTIAT

Coyotes take final road match in three

The Kittitas High School volleyball team handily swept its final road match of the season, beating Entiat on Tuesday — 25-7, 25-16, 25-9.

The victory wrapped up the No. 1 seed for the district tournament for the Coyotes.

Ali Kilgore led the Coyotes with seven kills, Natalie Gibb had nine aces, and Kayvonne Vaver had six kills and six aces.

“This game was exciting because all we ran was quick stuff,” said head coach Brandon Ambrose. “It was really fast, and they couldn’t get a block on us. Now we know we can do that. It was just exciting to watch again.”

The Coyotes are 13-0 and a perfect 58-0 in games this season. They come home to face Liberty Bell in a senior day match to close season at 1 p.m. Saturday.

OTHELLO

Bulldog spikers top Othello in four

The Ellensburg High School volleyball team started slow but eventually defeated Othello in its penultimate game of the regular season Tuesday — 23-25, 25-13, 25-21 and 25-17.

Bailey Carlson, Kaitlin Quirk and Acacia Young each had seven kills for the Bulldogs, and Kim Kelly led the team with 24 assists.

“My girls take a while to get going, so we need to get that stop to get rolling,” said head coach Josey Williams. “I’m glad we were able to turn it around and finish our game.”

The Bulldogs face first-place Selah at 7 p.m. Thursday to close out the regular season. Districts begin next Tuesday.

MOSES LAKE

Tigers defeat CBSS   in four games

The Thorp High School volleyball team defeated Columbia Basin Secondary School in its final road game of the regular season Tuesday — 25-18, 25-23, 21-25 and 25-16.

Morgan Lowery, Kelsey Hutchinson, Christina Price and Katelyn Pendley each had six kills, and Price and Hutchinson each had at least 19 digs.

The Tigers come home to close out the season against Cascade Christian Academy at 6 p.m. Thursday.