RAINIER DIGS UP PLAYOFF BERTH AT WARRENTON
The Rainier Columbians volleyball team avenged a regular season loss to Warrenton by defeating the Warriors 25-21, 20-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13 in a thrilling two hour playoff match at Warrenton High School Monday night.
With the win, the Columbians are assured of no worse than a number three seed to the state 3A volleyball tournament, and will contend with Neah-Kah-Nie and Oregon Episcopal School for the top spots in a final playoff round Wednesday night at Clatskanie.
The Warriors are now in a must-win situation. They will play Clatskanie at Rainier Wednesday night at 5:00 p.m. for the Lewis & Clark League's fourth and final state seed. The loser is out. Warrenton swept Clatskanie during the regular season, but the second match went five games.
Rainier cruised to a 7-0 lead in game one behind three ace serves from freshman Cassie Hanks. The Warriors were able to right the ship and make a competitive game out of it, closing within 19-20 behind the ace serve of sophomore Jordane Marxer and a Rainier ballhandling error. A net violation returned serve to the Columbians, who won four of the next six points with two kills by senior Heidi Jackson and a tip by backup middle hitter Niki Wagner.
"We didn't play very good in the first game," said Warrenton head coach Jim Hackwith. "We played better the rest of the game to catch up but we didn't quite finish it off."
Warrenton responded by taking the next two games. The Warriors overcame an 18-14 deficit behind a four point serving run by junior outside hitter Ashley Poole, taking advantage of some Rainier errors on attack. Emily Ogren and Brandi Jasmin had two kills each in the second game and Poole, Jasmin and LesleAnn Hayward had three kills each in game three.
Back-to-back kills including a thunderous spike by sophomore middle hitter Raeanne Hanks gave Rainier a 19-11 lead in game four before Warrenton's Amber Hackwith served the Warriors back into contention with two aces on a 5-point run to make it 19-17. Hanks put away a wayward Warrenton pass and the Columbians ran off six of the final seven points to force a fifth game.
Rainier started game in similar fashion to game one as Hanks served back-to-back aces for a 2-0 lead. Back-to-back kills by Hayward and Poole tied the game. A Poole kill and a soft ace serve by Hayward put the Warriors up 5-3, but Rainier came back to tie the game at five, six and seven before Raeanne Hanks recorded back-to-back kills, one set up by a tremendous dig by Cassie Hanks. An hit in the net by Hackwith gave Rainier an 11-8 lead, but Warrenton fought back to tie at 13 on a fortuitous bump kill by Poole, her fifth kill of the game. But the elder Hanks, a force at the net all night, put away another overpass for a side out and a tough lift call on Marxer proved to be match point for the Columbians.
The Columbians defense scrapped for every free ball and kept a number of unlikely rallies alive with their hustle. Jackson was a digging machine for Rainier, as well as contributing timely accurate hitting with 11 kills. Raeanne Hanks also had 11 kills for the Columbians, who play Neah-Kah-Nie at 5:00 p.m. The winner will play Oregon Episcoal School for the top seed, while the loser will be the third seed.
Ashley Poole had a match-high 12 kills for Warrenton.
With the win, the Columbians are assured of no worse than a number three seed to the state 3A volleyball tournament, and will contend with Neah-Kah-Nie and Oregon Episcopal School for the top spots in a final playoff round Wednesday night at Clatskanie.
The Warriors are now in a must-win situation. They will play Clatskanie at Rainier Wednesday night at 5:00 p.m. for the Lewis & Clark League's fourth and final state seed. The loser is out. Warrenton swept Clatskanie during the regular season, but the second match went five games.
Rainier cruised to a 7-0 lead in game one behind three ace serves from freshman Cassie Hanks. The Warriors were able to right the ship and make a competitive game out of it, closing within 19-20 behind the ace serve of sophomore Jordane Marxer and a Rainier ballhandling error. A net violation returned serve to the Columbians, who won four of the next six points with two kills by senior Heidi Jackson and a tip by backup middle hitter Niki Wagner.
"We didn't play very good in the first game," said Warrenton head coach Jim Hackwith. "We played better the rest of the game to catch up but we didn't quite finish it off."
Warrenton responded by taking the next two games. The Warriors overcame an 18-14 deficit behind a four point serving run by junior outside hitter Ashley Poole, taking advantage of some Rainier errors on attack. Emily Ogren and Brandi Jasmin had two kills each in the second game and Poole, Jasmin and LesleAnn Hayward had three kills each in game three.
Back-to-back kills including a thunderous spike by sophomore middle hitter Raeanne Hanks gave Rainier a 19-11 lead in game four before Warrenton's Amber Hackwith served the Warriors back into contention with two aces on a 5-point run to make it 19-17. Hanks put away a wayward Warrenton pass and the Columbians ran off six of the final seven points to force a fifth game.
Rainier started game in similar fashion to game one as Hanks served back-to-back aces for a 2-0 lead. Back-to-back kills by Hayward and Poole tied the game. A Poole kill and a soft ace serve by Hayward put the Warriors up 5-3, but Rainier came back to tie the game at five, six and seven before Raeanne Hanks recorded back-to-back kills, one set up by a tremendous dig by Cassie Hanks. An hit in the net by Hackwith gave Rainier an 11-8 lead, but Warrenton fought back to tie at 13 on a fortuitous bump kill by Poole, her fifth kill of the game. But the elder Hanks, a force at the net all night, put away another overpass for a side out and a tough lift call on Marxer proved to be match point for the Columbians.
The Columbians defense scrapped for every free ball and kept a number of unlikely rallies alive with their hustle. Jackson was a digging machine for Rainier, as well as contributing timely accurate hitting with 11 kills. Raeanne Hanks also had 11 kills for the Columbians, who play Neah-Kah-Nie at 5:00 p.m. The winner will play Oregon Episcoal School for the top seed, while the loser will be the third seed.
Ashley Poole had a match-high 12 kills for Warrenton.
posted by Matt Richert at 12:12 PM
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