The Lady D-backs are scary, scary good

I imagine the Century Diamondbacks as the lead protagonist in a volleyball horror film, except they’re the bad guy, the monster with a rip-roaring chain saw that tortures its victims before disposing them in some ugly, cover-your-eyes gruesome manner.

Just when you think they’re dead, they spring back to life out of a dark closet.

There is one difference between the Diamondbacks and Hollywood’s horror monsters. These D-backs always win. There’s never a happy ending or a positive outcome for the competition. Century jumps out from the fog and finishes off its victims with relentless tenacity.

The Diamondbacks just won their fourth-consecutive 4A volleyball championship last Saturday up north at Lake City High School, and did it after losing to Skyview in a two-hour thriller Friday afternoon.

Skyview had recovered from a two-set deficit to defeat Century. By that point, the Hawks had knocked off the D-backs both times they had played in the 2013 season. I have to envision that as they closed their eyes Friday night, each Hawk felt convinced Century had been beaten — the D-backs were dead.

But what they didn’t know was how head coach Pauline Thiros felt. Over the phone, she told me how close the Diamondbacks had been to winning, and even though Skyview and its seven seniors were bigger and stronger at every position, Century had taken them to the brink.

Even if they were in the losers’ bracket — ensuring that the D-backs would have to win four matches Saturday to take the title — Thiros thought her crew could handle the adversity. She was convinced her players had the necessary conditioning to survive a marathon day.

More than anything, Skyview didn’t know there’s one villain more scary, spine-chilling and spooky than anything Hollywood has ever devised. For those who missed it, the Diamondbacks did battle all the way back Saturday. They swept Sandpoint, took care of Skyview in four sets and shocked Bonneville with back-to-back victories for the championship.

If you meet Century’s players in person, they’re not exactly horrifying (in truth, they’re nice, attentive and polite). But that’s only because you don’t play them in volleyball.

Anyone who does knows how it’s nearly hopeless to find a weakness in their defense, that Kayla Ellis attacks from the outside with the power of a howitzer and setter Sami Parris is willing to use all her weapons at any time. They’ve got the pedigree of a state champion, but they compete like there’s something left to prove.

For practices, Century players wear T-shirts that say “Nobody trains to be runner up,” but I don’t know. It seems that for the past four years, that’s exactly what everyone else has been doing.

And that’s a really terrifying thought for anyone in the 4A ranks not called the D-backs.