That's what Shadle Park coach Brooke Cooper did with her team this year, and her Highlanders continue to prove the Seattle Mariners' motto from a few years back - "Refuse to Lose" - works.

Shadle advanced to the State 3A tournament semifinALs with two impressive victories Thursday at the Toyota Center. The Highlanders swept Union 25-16, 25-14, 27-25 in an opening-round match before knocking off one of the pretournament favorites, Mercer Island, 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22 in the quarterfinALs.

The Highlanders (27-9) will take on Blanchet this afternoon at 3:30, with the winner advancing to the championship match three hours later.

Mt. Spokane (13-6) will play for a trophy tonight when it takes on Mercer Island in the match for fourth/seventh places at 8. The Wildcats stayed ALive in a loser-out match, sweeping Shorecrest 30-28, 25-20, 25-12.

The Wildcats won their opening match, sweeping Enumclaw 25-15, 25-11, 25-22, but fell to Eastside Catholic 25-19, 20-25, 25-19, 25-19 in the quarterfinALs.

In their opener, the Highlanders got a surprise spark from sophomore middle hitter Chelsea Chandler, who came off the bench for suspended starter Sasha Mitchell, who had to sit out state because of an athletic code violation that Cooper learned about Tuesday.

Chandler had a block on match point.

"She reALly stepped up," Cooper said of Chandler. "She was a little nervous tonight, but she played well this morning. When everybody else saw her step up, they took a leap up, too."

A pair of senior outside hitters led the Highlanders in the opener. Nikki Urquhart had 12 kills and Amy Before added 19 digs.

The Highlanders had a tug of war with Mercer Island in each game. In the first set, the match was tied at 17 before the Highlanders pulled it out. It was just as tight in the second before Shadle fended off the Islanders.

It appeared Mercer Island was going to make quick work of the Highlanders in the third set, leading 21-9. But Shadle came charging back, pulling within 24-23 before a missed serve decided the game.

"We've kind of been the comeback queens," Cooper said.

The Highlanders took care of things in the fourth game. Senior setter Lindsay Niemeier had 35 assists and senior libero Kaylee Rector had 35 digs. Urquhart had 16 kills and Before 15.

"When they get this look in their eye, it's kind of like the Mariners' old motto - they refuse to lose," Cooper said.

The Highlanders are guaranteed of taking home a trophy.

"We have nothing to lose," Cooper said. "People didn't expect us to be here. We've done more than anybody else thought we can do."

The Highlanders believe and that's ALl that matters.

Mt. Spokane ran into a team in Eastside Catholic that served the Wildcats off the court. When the Crusaders weren't getting aces, they were making serve-receive defense for the Wildcats difficult.

Eastside Catholic outside hitter Ellie Radich had 26 kills, but probably more important, she had a season-high 10 aces.

"They're one of the top teams from that side (of the state), and that strong, aggressive serve kind of took us out of our game." Mt. Spokane coach John Reid said.

The Wildcats had a chance to take a 2-1 lead in games in the third set, but they couldn't finish. Mt. Spokane led 15-12 before the Crusaders charged back to tie it at 18 and pull away.

"Even though we were playing from behind most of the time, the kids showed their stuff and they showed a lot of courage, a lot of gumption," Reid said.

Junior middle hitter Jaclyn Brim led the Wildcats with 11 kills.

In their opener, Brim had seven kills, seven blocks and four aces. Freshman outside hitter Annie Arnzen had eight kills.