Cedar Park Christian coach Julie Nelson has taken her Eagles to the state volleyball tournament the last six years and said each trip is equally exciting — because she never knows what will happen.

Junior setter Lyndsay Palmer noted that it’s quite an accomplishment for Nelson to coach her girls to state.

On Saturday night, Cedar Park snagged third place with a 3-0 win over Lynden Christian (25-16, 25-21, 25-12) at the 1A tourney at the Yakima SunDome. It’s the Eagles’ best-ever finish at state.

“The girls had a great state tournament. The seniors led the team this year in their unselfishness and humble leadership,” Nelson said.

Earlier in the day, King’s defeated Cedar Park, 3-0, in the semifinals.

To make the semis, the Eagles (21-2) beat LaSalle on Friday, 3-1 (19-25, 25-15, 34-32, 25-19). Cedar Park opened the tournament in grand style with a 3-0 win over Ridgefield with scores of 25-16, 25-18, 25-15.

“I am so proud of them in the mental toughness they displayed in the LaSalle 34-32 win and coming back after a disappointing loss to King’s in the semifinals to take third place,” Nelson added.

In total for the tournament, the Eagles had 314 digs, 162 kills, 143 assists and 34 aces.

Individual totals are as follows:

• Mattie Shelford — 62 kills, 45 digs, six blocks, three assists

• Cydnee Dufenhorst — 33 kills, two aces, 49 digs, five blocks, five assists

• J.J. Abbott — 18 kills, four aces, 48 digs, one block, one assist

• Ari Gardner — 14 kills, four digs, one block

• Kayla Roth — 14 kills, four aces, 11 digs, five blocks

• Amy Merkle — 11 kills, six digs, nine blocks, one assist

• Lyndsay Palmer — 10 kills, 16 aces, 56 digs, four blocks, 131 assists

• Kayla Zacharias — three aces, 91 digs

• Jenna Jo Duffy — five aces, three digs

• Sam Lundberg — one dig, two assists