FISHERMEN NET FIRST VOLLEBALL TROPHY
The Astoria Lady Fishermen volleyball team made history by winning its second match at the OSAA 4A State Championships, ensuring a top six finish and the first tournament trophy in school history.
Astoria defeated La Grande 22-25, 25-12, 25-14, 25-21 Saturday morning, one day after a somewhat disappointing loss to the Henley Hornets in the quarterfinal round. Astoria closed out the tournament with a 14-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-12 loss to the La Salle Falcons in the consolation final for fourth and sixth place. The Fishermen finished the season with a 16-4 overall record in match play, the most wins and best winning percentage for an Astoria volleyball team.
"It's one of those kind of bittersweets," said fourth-year Astoria head coach Angee Hunt, who has led the Fishermen to their only two Cowapa League volleyball titles and two of their four state volleyball tournament appearances. "We win the first two games. We had it and we just couldn't finish it. But its a learning process."
"It always sucks to lose, but you take a step back and look at the big picture. It is our first trophy. We were ranked fourth and sixth all year and we were in the match for fourth and sixth. It was fitting."
Henley was expected to defeat Astoria, as the Skyline League champs came into the tournament ranked third in the state. After the Klamath Falls-based school took a competitive first game 25-19, Astoria stormed ahead in game two. Back-to-back kills by Kristin Saulsbury put the Lady Fishermen up 16-6 as Amelia Hernandez served six straight points. The Hornets closed to 10-17 before a pair of kills by Sophie DeWitt and a kill by sophomore Emily Bunnell reignited Astoria and bumped the lead back to ten points at 22-12.
With Astoria three points from evening the match, the Hornets rallied, winning 14 of the next 16 points, closing out the game on back-to-back kills by Mikayla Morgan for a shocking 26-24 win. Morgan had five kills during the game-closing run.
The Hornets would again rally from behind in game three, as Hernandez served Astoria to a 6-0 start. Henley had four hitting errors and a ballhandling error in the run and Saulsbury capped it with a kill. The Fishermen maintained leads of 13-7 and 17-12 before the Hornets began yet another comeback. Four straight errors on Astoria allowed Henley to tie the game at 17. With Astoria up 20-18, Megan Christiansen, the Skyline League MVP, earned a sideout with a kill, then served up three aces on a 5-point run to put Henley at match point 24-20.
Astoria grabbed brief hope after senior setter Rachel Gascoigne executed a perfect back-set over the net for a dump kill, catching the Hornets defense off-guard. Astoria's flickering hopes for a semifinal appearance were extinguished when Morgan put away a Sierra Patzke set for the match-winning point.
"That's just Henley being a team that's always at state and having that tournament savvy," said Hunt of the Hornets, who have missed only one state tournament in twenty years. "We came out not really knowing what to expect. We get eager and we get a lead and we're used to once you get to a certain point, having teams fold. Henley didn't fold and that kind of took us for a little bit of surprise. We're not used to seeing that."
Things looked bleak indeed for the Lady Fishermen when they dropped their first game 22-25 to La Grande, but for the balance of the match Astoria showed the talent and confidence that boosted them to their second Cowapa League title in three years, taking it to the perennial volleyball contender from east of the mountains with 25-12 and 25-14 results in games two and three, two of the most dominating games played by any team at the tournament.
Eight of La Grande's 26 points in the middle of the match came on Astoria service errors as the Fishermen committed an uncharacteristic 11 errors on serve.
Astoria managed to work out the service kinks in game four, with Hernandez, their toughest server, providing a key 6-point run with an ace as the Fishermen closed out the match with a 25-21 result.
"It was nice to see that," said Hunt. "I think we made and impression. I think maybe people realized the Cowapa is a tough league and there's tough teams there and we can compete, kind of getting over that hurdle of getting some respect from around the state."
Sophie DeWitt, Astoria's kill leader at the tournament, recorded a match high 20 kills to go with three solo blocks against La Grande. The Cowapa League runner-up for Player of the Year, DeWitt had 14 kills and four blocks in the Henley loss. Senior Rachel Gascoigne, Astoria's All-Cowapa League setter, had 41 assists and a career-high five kills. Wendi Agalzoff had seven of her 15 kills in the first game of the match and Saulsbury finished with 12 kills.
Against La Salle in the consolation finals, Astoria appeared to continue the momentum of the La Grande match, whacking the Capital Conference runners-up 25-14 in game one. DeWitt came up big again in game two, smacking seven kills in a 25-22 win.
Tough-serving La Salle regained its footing and grabbed an early 6-1 lead in game three. Astoria rallied for a brief lead at 16-15 with DeWitt scoring three straight points on a solo block and back-to-back kills. But the Falcons' top hitter, Kate Eichhorn, finally started finding the floor in game three, knocking down six kills. Mallory Lopas took took serve with the game tied at 16 and piloted the Falcons to eight straight points behind three Eichhorn putaways and two kills by Bridget Dixon, who successfully executed slide plays with strong crosscourt shots throughout the match.
La Salle's middles began to get into the act in game four as the Falcons got two key kills from 6-0 senior Elizabeth Skurdahl to take a 23-20 lead. Impressive-looking freshman outside hitter Jenny Pliska pulled out a strong left-handed jump serve and aced game point 25-22, forcing a fifth game.
For only the third time in twelve games, Astoria did not win the first point, as La Salle, a private Catholic school located near Clackamas Town Center in Milwaukie, took a 4-0 lead on the serve of Megan Coughlin. Down 10-5, Saulsbury earned a side out for the Fish and Sara Cullen served Astoria to a 10-10 tie behind kills by Saulsbury and Agalzoff and a double block by Agalzoff and junior middle Meredith Barnes. An Agalzoff kill on an overpass put Astoria in front for the only time in the game 12-11, before a Jenny Pliska kill tied things up.
Once again, Pliska took her sharp jump serve behind the line, serving out the match with three straight points capped by kills from Eichhorn and Skurdahl.
"We really played solid in that first game," said Hunt. "Everything was working well. Our serve-receive was on. Our offense was pretty pretty much firing at will. It was happy hunting to the hitters.
"Then LaSalle gradually got their composure and built themselves up, slowly made adjustments and did what they had to to win the match."
DeWitt closed out an all-tournament first team performance, the first in school history, with 17 kills in the match, giving her 51 in three games of the tournament. Saulsbury (12) and Agalzoff (11) also reached double figures in kills for the second straight match and Gascoigne finished with 34 assists. Eichorn finished with a match-high 18 kills for La Salle, a perennial volleyball contender which missed the tournament last season.
The Fishermen played the entire tournament without starting outside hitter Hilary O'Bryan, who sprained her ankle in the playoff win over Douglas and will remain in a walking boot for at least another week and a half. Sophomore Emily Bunnell, a 5-9 outside hitter, made her first varsity start in the Henley match and played exceptionally well, rarely leaving the floor.
"I don't think people really realize the situation we put this kid in," said an emotional Hunt, who had to console her despondent young player after she felt the burden of responsibility in the Henley loss. "She played maybe a combined 15 points for the season at the varsity level!
"She stepped in beautifully. I mean, I couldn't ask her to do any more than what she did. The pressure...everything! I would challenge anybody in that gym to say there's one girl in here who's never played varsity before and you pick her out. I can guarantee you, there's not very many people here that would be able to do that. She fit right in and did everything we needed her to do."
The double-bonus for Astoria is that both O'Bryan and Bunnell return for next year, along with their top two outside hitters, DeWitt and Saulsbury, who had her ups and downs after an outstanding 20-kill performance against Douglas to put Astoria in the tournament. The 5-9 outside hitter made a quantum leap in her junior year to make the All-Cowapa League first team and similar improvement into next season will give Astoria one of the top outside hitting tandems in the state in 2007, along with what should be an improved defense. The Fishermen will have a tough time replacing Gascoigne, who was rock-steady all season long and played one of her best-ever matches in the La Grande win.
"The nice thing is this year compared to last year we bring back a lot of players," said Hunt. "Two years ago, we pretty much graduated the whole squad and had to start over from scratch. Now we have a solid core to return and build from. They know what it's about and they've been in those tight situations.
"We didn't play perfect, but we're learning. You take those lessons with you and build for next season."
In a rematch of the 2005 title game, North Bend turned the tables on Estacada, defeating the Rangers 28-26, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21 for the Bulldogs first-ever volleyball championship. Those same teams met in the finals of Seaside's Invitational Tournament, with Estacada beating a North Bend team that was without top outside hitter Kelcy McKenna, who was on a tennis recruiting trip. McKenna, who received a full ride scholarship to play tennis at Arizona State, was one of two unanimous all-tournament team selections, along with Estacada's athletic junior middle hitter Shikara White. Estacada was making its fifth consecutive appearance in the championship game.
In the 3A finals, also played at Lane Community College, Burns defeated Gervais 3-1. The Hilanders Jessica Clemens--who was 3A co-player of the year in 2005 with McKenna--and Libby Morrison of Oregon Episcopal School were both unanimous all-tournament team selections. Burns defeated O.E.S. 3-1 in the semifinals in a matchup of the state top two ranked teams, handing the Aardvarks their first loss of the season. O.E.S., the Lewis & Clark League champs, finished third, defeating Myrtle Point on Saturday 3-0.
Astoria defeated La Grande 22-25, 25-12, 25-14, 25-21 Saturday morning, one day after a somewhat disappointing loss to the Henley Hornets in the quarterfinal round. Astoria closed out the tournament with a 14-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-12 loss to the La Salle Falcons in the consolation final for fourth and sixth place. The Fishermen finished the season with a 16-4 overall record in match play, the most wins and best winning percentage for an Astoria volleyball team.
"It's one of those kind of bittersweets," said fourth-year Astoria head coach Angee Hunt, who has led the Fishermen to their only two Cowapa League volleyball titles and two of their four state volleyball tournament appearances. "We win the first two games. We had it and we just couldn't finish it. But its a learning process."
"It always sucks to lose, but you take a step back and look at the big picture. It is our first trophy. We were ranked fourth and sixth all year and we were in the match for fourth and sixth. It was fitting."
Henley was expected to defeat Astoria, as the Skyline League champs came into the tournament ranked third in the state. After the Klamath Falls-based school took a competitive first game 25-19, Astoria stormed ahead in game two. Back-to-back kills by Kristin Saulsbury put the Lady Fishermen up 16-6 as Amelia Hernandez served six straight points. The Hornets closed to 10-17 before a pair of kills by Sophie DeWitt and a kill by sophomore Emily Bunnell reignited Astoria and bumped the lead back to ten points at 22-12.
With Astoria three points from evening the match, the Hornets rallied, winning 14 of the next 16 points, closing out the game on back-to-back kills by Mikayla Morgan for a shocking 26-24 win. Morgan had five kills during the game-closing run.
The Hornets would again rally from behind in game three, as Hernandez served Astoria to a 6-0 start. Henley had four hitting errors and a ballhandling error in the run and Saulsbury capped it with a kill. The Fishermen maintained leads of 13-7 and 17-12 before the Hornets began yet another comeback. Four straight errors on Astoria allowed Henley to tie the game at 17. With Astoria up 20-18, Megan Christiansen, the Skyline League MVP, earned a sideout with a kill, then served up three aces on a 5-point run to put Henley at match point 24-20.
Astoria grabbed brief hope after senior setter Rachel Gascoigne executed a perfect back-set over the net for a dump kill, catching the Hornets defense off-guard. Astoria's flickering hopes for a semifinal appearance were extinguished when Morgan put away a Sierra Patzke set for the match-winning point.
"That's just Henley being a team that's always at state and having that tournament savvy," said Hunt of the Hornets, who have missed only one state tournament in twenty years. "We came out not really knowing what to expect. We get eager and we get a lead and we're used to once you get to a certain point, having teams fold. Henley didn't fold and that kind of took us for a little bit of surprise. We're not used to seeing that."
Things looked bleak indeed for the Lady Fishermen when they dropped their first game 22-25 to La Grande, but for the balance of the match Astoria showed the talent and confidence that boosted them to their second Cowapa League title in three years, taking it to the perennial volleyball contender from east of the mountains with 25-12 and 25-14 results in games two and three, two of the most dominating games played by any team at the tournament.
Eight of La Grande's 26 points in the middle of the match came on Astoria service errors as the Fishermen committed an uncharacteristic 11 errors on serve.
Astoria managed to work out the service kinks in game four, with Hernandez, their toughest server, providing a key 6-point run with an ace as the Fishermen closed out the match with a 25-21 result.
"It was nice to see that," said Hunt. "I think we made and impression. I think maybe people realized the Cowapa is a tough league and there's tough teams there and we can compete, kind of getting over that hurdle of getting some respect from around the state."
Sophie DeWitt, Astoria's kill leader at the tournament, recorded a match high 20 kills to go with three solo blocks against La Grande. The Cowapa League runner-up for Player of the Year, DeWitt had 14 kills and four blocks in the Henley loss. Senior Rachel Gascoigne, Astoria's All-Cowapa League setter, had 41 assists and a career-high five kills. Wendi Agalzoff had seven of her 15 kills in the first game of the match and Saulsbury finished with 12 kills.
Against La Salle in the consolation finals, Astoria appeared to continue the momentum of the La Grande match, whacking the Capital Conference runners-up 25-14 in game one. DeWitt came up big again in game two, smacking seven kills in a 25-22 win.
Tough-serving La Salle regained its footing and grabbed an early 6-1 lead in game three. Astoria rallied for a brief lead at 16-15 with DeWitt scoring three straight points on a solo block and back-to-back kills. But the Falcons' top hitter, Kate Eichhorn, finally started finding the floor in game three, knocking down six kills. Mallory Lopas took took serve with the game tied at 16 and piloted the Falcons to eight straight points behind three Eichhorn putaways and two kills by Bridget Dixon, who successfully executed slide plays with strong crosscourt shots throughout the match.
La Salle's middles began to get into the act in game four as the Falcons got two key kills from 6-0 senior Elizabeth Skurdahl to take a 23-20 lead. Impressive-looking freshman outside hitter Jenny Pliska pulled out a strong left-handed jump serve and aced game point 25-22, forcing a fifth game.
For only the third time in twelve games, Astoria did not win the first point, as La Salle, a private Catholic school located near Clackamas Town Center in Milwaukie, took a 4-0 lead on the serve of Megan Coughlin. Down 10-5, Saulsbury earned a side out for the Fish and Sara Cullen served Astoria to a 10-10 tie behind kills by Saulsbury and Agalzoff and a double block by Agalzoff and junior middle Meredith Barnes. An Agalzoff kill on an overpass put Astoria in front for the only time in the game 12-11, before a Jenny Pliska kill tied things up.
Once again, Pliska took her sharp jump serve behind the line, serving out the match with three straight points capped by kills from Eichhorn and Skurdahl.
"We really played solid in that first game," said Hunt. "Everything was working well. Our serve-receive was on. Our offense was pretty pretty much firing at will. It was happy hunting to the hitters.
"Then LaSalle gradually got their composure and built themselves up, slowly made adjustments and did what they had to to win the match."
DeWitt closed out an all-tournament first team performance, the first in school history, with 17 kills in the match, giving her 51 in three games of the tournament. Saulsbury (12) and Agalzoff (11) also reached double figures in kills for the second straight match and Gascoigne finished with 34 assists. Eichorn finished with a match-high 18 kills for La Salle, a perennial volleyball contender which missed the tournament last season.
The Fishermen played the entire tournament without starting outside hitter Hilary O'Bryan, who sprained her ankle in the playoff win over Douglas and will remain in a walking boot for at least another week and a half. Sophomore Emily Bunnell, a 5-9 outside hitter, made her first varsity start in the Henley match and played exceptionally well, rarely leaving the floor.
"I don't think people really realize the situation we put this kid in," said an emotional Hunt, who had to console her despondent young player after she felt the burden of responsibility in the Henley loss. "She played maybe a combined 15 points for the season at the varsity level!
"She stepped in beautifully. I mean, I couldn't ask her to do any more than what she did. The pressure...everything! I would challenge anybody in that gym to say there's one girl in here who's never played varsity before and you pick her out. I can guarantee you, there's not very many people here that would be able to do that. She fit right in and did everything we needed her to do."
The double-bonus for Astoria is that both O'Bryan and Bunnell return for next year, along with their top two outside hitters, DeWitt and Saulsbury, who had her ups and downs after an outstanding 20-kill performance against Douglas to put Astoria in the tournament. The 5-9 outside hitter made a quantum leap in her junior year to make the All-Cowapa League first team and similar improvement into next season will give Astoria one of the top outside hitting tandems in the state in 2007, along with what should be an improved defense. The Fishermen will have a tough time replacing Gascoigne, who was rock-steady all season long and played one of her best-ever matches in the La Grande win.
"The nice thing is this year compared to last year we bring back a lot of players," said Hunt. "Two years ago, we pretty much graduated the whole squad and had to start over from scratch. Now we have a solid core to return and build from. They know what it's about and they've been in those tight situations.
"We didn't play perfect, but we're learning. You take those lessons with you and build for next season."
In a rematch of the 2005 title game, North Bend turned the tables on Estacada, defeating the Rangers 28-26, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21 for the Bulldogs first-ever volleyball championship. Those same teams met in the finals of Seaside's Invitational Tournament, with Estacada beating a North Bend team that was without top outside hitter Kelcy McKenna, who was on a tennis recruiting trip. McKenna, who received a full ride scholarship to play tennis at Arizona State, was one of two unanimous all-tournament team selections, along with Estacada's athletic junior middle hitter Shikara White. Estacada was making its fifth consecutive appearance in the championship game.
In the 3A finals, also played at Lane Community College, Burns defeated Gervais 3-1. The Hilanders Jessica Clemens--who was 3A co-player of the year in 2005 with McKenna--and Libby Morrison of Oregon Episcopal School were both unanimous all-tournament team selections. Burns defeated O.E.S. 3-1 in the semifinals in a matchup of the state top two ranked teams, handing the Aardvarks their first loss of the season. O.E.S., the Lewis & Clark League champs, finished third, defeating Myrtle Point on Saturday 3-0.
posted by Matt Richert at 8:25 AM
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