The streak is finally over.

The Federal Way High School volleyball team snapped a six-year-long losing streak Tuesday with a big-time, five-game victory over the Bethel Braves on the road. The Eagles downed the Braves in Spanaway, 25-27, 17-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-11.

The win ended a 62-match losing streak by the Eagles in the South Puget Sound League. Federal Way’s last SPSL victory was in the fall of 2004 when the Eagles beat Todd Beamer. Since then, Federal Way suffered through five-straight winless SPSL seasons.

“We have had our ups and downs, but this win makes it worth it,” said second-year head coach Donja Walker, who graduated from Bethel. “We work really hard in practice and have improved so much, but our record does not show that. It is a very long losing streak finally broken. I think that we had this huge weight on our back to get a league win and now we know we can finish a match.”

Against Bethel, the Eagles got huge individual performances from several players during the win.

Defensive specialist Kara Highberg was stellar from her libero position Tuesday night, contributing an amazing 43 digs. Carly Bottemiller finished with 23 kills and Danielle Tanielu had a solid all-around match with 26 assists, 11 kills and three aces. Senior Monica McConnaughey chipped in 11 kills and five blocks, Autasia Westerlund finished with 11 assists and Televise Lologo tallied 11 digs for the Eagles.

“In the practices leading up to the Bethel game, we have also been working on our game preparation, the little things,” Walker said.

The “little things” included Federal Way players having all of their gear on early (so they are not scrambling at the last minute), getting in game mode before warm ups and concentrating on communication during the match.

“This helped us a lot in the Bethel match, and has helped us pick up our intensity level,” Walker said. “We even worked on what the bench should be doing and talking about.”

The win over Bethel was actually the Eagles’ fifth win of the season.

Federal Way has won non-league matches against Renton, Jefferson, Lindbergh and Decatur. The Eagles have two SPSL South matches remaining against Curtis and Beamer.

“The girls did a little more celebrating after the game and took a few pictures,” Walker said. “As a coach, I am just happy for my players. They play hard and even when we lose, we show to other teams that we can play. It is just nice to finally play a close match and come out on top.”