MOOKS WRIGGLE OFF THE HOOK AT ASTORIA
Astoria's Cowapa League championship plans were put on a one week hold, as the Tillamook Cheesemakers overcame a 2 games to 1 deficit and a 13-12 disadvantage in game five to upset the Lady Fishermen in a 20-25, 25-20, 15-25, 25-20, 15-13 thriller at the Brick House Thursday night.
Leading 13-12 in the decisive game, Astoria saw a kill attempt land millimeters outside the deep corner and let two easily returnable balls drop in a disappointing finish as the Cheesemakers stole a must-win game to keep their title hopes alive.
"The girls knew that coming in tonight that it was going to be tough and probably a 5-game match," said Cheesemakers head coach Lisa Coughlin, who won her fourth match against Astoria in five tries. "We've been working hard and building up to it and they did it tonight."
Both teams were flying around the court in the fifth game, sustaining some long rallies. Tillamook jumped to a 3-0 lead after junior Melissa Waud's knuckleball serve dropped in for an ace. Astoria's Wendi Agalzoff put away a quick-set from Rachel Gascoigne for a side out, then tallied two blocks and a kill to put the Fishermen in front 4-3. The game was tied at 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 before Agalzoff notched her 12th kill of the night to put Astoria up 13-12.
At that point, Coughlin called time out. When both teams returned to the floor, one team seemed to leave its energy in the huddle. While Tillamook continued to dig up every free ball, their star senior OH Stephanie Beeler put away a somewhat soft back row kill to level the match at 13. Astoria's back row was slow to react to a ball that should have been kept alive. Sophie DeWitt sent a shot to the back far corner that just barely missed the line to put the Cheesemakers at match point, before Beeler put away her 30th kill of the match, again a returnable off-speed shot, to clinch the win for the Cheesemakers, who now trail Astoria by a game in the standings with the tiebreaker edge over the Fishermen
"Tillamook came to play," said an unhappy Astoria coach Angee Hunt, who kept her team behind closed doors for several minutes following the match. "We were there most of the time, but at the end it became a battle of who would be the most tentative and we ended up scoring greater in the tentative category at the end.
"When you get in tight situations like that, being tentative will cost you, and it cost us tonight. We had players that were in position to dig balls that hit the floor. And one or two times in a tight game in a tight match it will cost you. And it did."
The Fishermen were anything but tentative to open the match, continuing a superlative passing and serve receive effort that began earlier in the week at Scappoose to win game one 25-20. After opening the game with a service error, Sara Cullen returned to the line to serve three consecutive aces to give Astoria a 16-11 lead.
The next four games saw Astoria start slowly, with Tillamook building leads of at least 4-1 in three straight games, winning two of them. But Astoria battled hard to make game two respectable after falling behind 18-8. Another service error late in the match may have prevented Astoria from coming all the way back, giving Tillamook the ball with a 23-18 lead as the teams alternated points to a 25-20 Cheesemakers advantage. The Fishermen had an unusual eight errors on serve, including three on their opening serves.
"Its a lack of mental focus," said Hunt, "or being too stressed out by the situation. Something mental is kind of the indicator there."
Hunt went with Amelia Hernandez, a senior defensive specialist, to open serve in the fifth game. Hernandez placed the serve, but Beeler scored with the soft stuff to give Tillamook a side out on the way to a 3-0 start.
Beeler, one of the state's top hitters and a college recruit, had her second 30 kill night at Astoria this year, toning down her power shots with a heavier dose of off-speed and directional hits. The Fishermen struggled to defend her all night.
"She's smart that way," said Coughlin. "She looks for the holes and she knows what kind of hit to do. There's not a whole lot of girls this age that can do that. She reads the ball and looks at the court very well."
As Beeler went, so went the Mooks, as the 5-9 senior had eight kills in game two and nine kills in game four, both Tillamook wins, before bookending the fifth game with two of her five kills in the finale. What carried Tillamook to the win, though, was a superior defensive effort in the fifth game as they literally refused to let balls drop, with middle blocker Ali Prince picking up several key digs and junior setter Jamie Martin going into the Astoria student section two dig not one, but two balls out of the bleachers.
"They knew that they had to be scrappy tonight," said Coughlin. "They had to go for everything and hit the floor and they did that."
DeWitt led Astoria's attack with 21 kills, followed by Kristin Saulsbury (15) and Agalzoff (12). Rachel Gascoigne contributed 46 assists, while Martin countered with a 53 assists.
Astoria still controls its own playoff destiny, but now must defeat Banks in the final regular season game at home on Thursday to clinch the title, provided that Yamhill-Carlton doesn't pull off an upset on Tuesday when the Tigers host the Lady Fishermen. If Banks is able to beat Astoria on the final day, a three-way tie for first place would be broken at a neutral site tournament, likely on Monday Oct. 30 at Seaside.
Leading 13-12 in the decisive game, Astoria saw a kill attempt land millimeters outside the deep corner and let two easily returnable balls drop in a disappointing finish as the Cheesemakers stole a must-win game to keep their title hopes alive.
"The girls knew that coming in tonight that it was going to be tough and probably a 5-game match," said Cheesemakers head coach Lisa Coughlin, who won her fourth match against Astoria in five tries. "We've been working hard and building up to it and they did it tonight."
Both teams were flying around the court in the fifth game, sustaining some long rallies. Tillamook jumped to a 3-0 lead after junior Melissa Waud's knuckleball serve dropped in for an ace. Astoria's Wendi Agalzoff put away a quick-set from Rachel Gascoigne for a side out, then tallied two blocks and a kill to put the Fishermen in front 4-3. The game was tied at 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 before Agalzoff notched her 12th kill of the night to put Astoria up 13-12.
At that point, Coughlin called time out. When both teams returned to the floor, one team seemed to leave its energy in the huddle. While Tillamook continued to dig up every free ball, their star senior OH Stephanie Beeler put away a somewhat soft back row kill to level the match at 13. Astoria's back row was slow to react to a ball that should have been kept alive. Sophie DeWitt sent a shot to the back far corner that just barely missed the line to put the Cheesemakers at match point, before Beeler put away her 30th kill of the match, again a returnable off-speed shot, to clinch the win for the Cheesemakers, who now trail Astoria by a game in the standings with the tiebreaker edge over the Fishermen
"Tillamook came to play," said an unhappy Astoria coach Angee Hunt, who kept her team behind closed doors for several minutes following the match. "We were there most of the time, but at the end it became a battle of who would be the most tentative and we ended up scoring greater in the tentative category at the end.
"When you get in tight situations like that, being tentative will cost you, and it cost us tonight. We had players that were in position to dig balls that hit the floor. And one or two times in a tight game in a tight match it will cost you. And it did."
The Fishermen were anything but tentative to open the match, continuing a superlative passing and serve receive effort that began earlier in the week at Scappoose to win game one 25-20. After opening the game with a service error, Sara Cullen returned to the line to serve three consecutive aces to give Astoria a 16-11 lead.
The next four games saw Astoria start slowly, with Tillamook building leads of at least 4-1 in three straight games, winning two of them. But Astoria battled hard to make game two respectable after falling behind 18-8. Another service error late in the match may have prevented Astoria from coming all the way back, giving Tillamook the ball with a 23-18 lead as the teams alternated points to a 25-20 Cheesemakers advantage. The Fishermen had an unusual eight errors on serve, including three on their opening serves.
"Its a lack of mental focus," said Hunt, "or being too stressed out by the situation. Something mental is kind of the indicator there."
Hunt went with Amelia Hernandez, a senior defensive specialist, to open serve in the fifth game. Hernandez placed the serve, but Beeler scored with the soft stuff to give Tillamook a side out on the way to a 3-0 start.
Beeler, one of the state's top hitters and a college recruit, had her second 30 kill night at Astoria this year, toning down her power shots with a heavier dose of off-speed and directional hits. The Fishermen struggled to defend her all night.
"She's smart that way," said Coughlin. "She looks for the holes and she knows what kind of hit to do. There's not a whole lot of girls this age that can do that. She reads the ball and looks at the court very well."
As Beeler went, so went the Mooks, as the 5-9 senior had eight kills in game two and nine kills in game four, both Tillamook wins, before bookending the fifth game with two of her five kills in the finale. What carried Tillamook to the win, though, was a superior defensive effort in the fifth game as they literally refused to let balls drop, with middle blocker Ali Prince picking up several key digs and junior setter Jamie Martin going into the Astoria student section two dig not one, but two balls out of the bleachers.
"They knew that they had to be scrappy tonight," said Coughlin. "They had to go for everything and hit the floor and they did that."
DeWitt led Astoria's attack with 21 kills, followed by Kristin Saulsbury (15) and Agalzoff (12). Rachel Gascoigne contributed 46 assists, while Martin countered with a 53 assists.
Astoria still controls its own playoff destiny, but now must defeat Banks in the final regular season game at home on Thursday to clinch the title, provided that Yamhill-Carlton doesn't pull off an upset on Tuesday when the Tigers host the Lady Fishermen. If Banks is able to beat Astoria on the final day, a three-way tie for first place would be broken at a neutral site tournament, likely on Monday Oct. 30 at Seaside.
posted by Matt Richert at 10:26 AM
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