With three matches remaining in their season, the South Whidbey High School volleyball team is on the verge making it into the Northwest District 2A playoffs.

Easy victories over Granite Falls Tuesday and Lakewood Thursday take the Falcons to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the North Cascades Conference, which puts them in third place behind 5-0 Meridian and 3-0 Lynden Christian.

Against the Tigers, the Falcons took a victory both in terms of score and psychology. One of the better teams in the NCC last year, the Tigers came into Tuesday’s game at Erikson Gymnasium depleted of some of their top personnel from the 2002 season. The Falcons hit them early and often with an almost perfect serving and passing game and on the strength of senior Katy McGillen’s 10 kills. They smothered the Tigers 25-12 to open the night, then took the next two games 25-17 and 25-16, clicking along at a pace broken only by the timeouts called by Granite Falls.

The match was similar to the one the two teams played Sept. 25, when South Whidbey won 25-15, 25-14, 25-13.

South Whidbey coach Tim Durbin said McGillen’s booming hits from the left site make a difference against teams like Granite Falls and Lakewood, causing them to think twice about getting in the way when she winds up for a kill.

Also keeping the game clicking along was senior setter Brianna Hussey, who had 27 assists, and junior Amy Brown with eight digs.

Thursday night’s match at Lakewood went a little longer, but the only extra opposition to South Whidbey’s game came from within. After taking the first two games on the night 25-16 and 25-11, the Falcons fell behind in the third game by eight points, eventually losing 22-25. At that point, Durbin said, it was time for a team pep talk.

“In the third game, we just lost our focus,” he said. “I said ‘Alright guys, this is not what a championship team is going to be.”

The talk apparently worked. Back on the floor for game 4, the Falcons breezed in convincing fashion 25-12.

The extra length of the match had the Falcons working longer and putting up bigger numbers to earn their trip back home. Hussey was extraordinarily active, making 32 assists and finding time to hit six kills. McGillen has seven kills on the night, as did seniors Nici Eaton and Katy McGillen.

Looking forward, the Falcons play Sultan — another team they beat earlier in the season — on Thursday at Erikson Gymnasium, then host the NCC’s second-best team, Lynden Christian, on Oct. 28 for their final home game of the season.

District playoffs begin Nov. 5.