ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW?
The top 4A (formerly 3A) volleyball teams from Northern Oregon annually trek to the North Coast in early October to compete in the Seaside Varsity Invitational.
Last year, North Bend defeated Estacada in the championship game of the tournament, then duplicated the feat at Lane Community College in November to bring home the school's first volleyball title.
This year, top-ranked and undefeated Estacada exacted swift revenge by pummelling the Bulldogs 25-12, 25-8 on the way to another finals appearance. But, the number two-ranked team in the state, the La Grande Tigers, sent Estacada packing with a 25-20, 27-25 win in the final game of the day, setting off a wild celebration. After all, the winner of this tournament is pretty well assured of making a deep run in the state playoffs.
La Grande swept through pool play and the championship bracket without dropping a game. However, Astoria was only team other than Estacada to make the Tigers work. After taking the Fishermen 25-16 in the first game of their pool play matchup, Astoria stretched the Tigers to extra points before falling 26-24, as La Grande took the top spot and Astoria the number two position from the pool. The wins were sweet for the Tigers, who dropped a 5-game match to Astoria at last year's state tournament to end their season.
Astoria faced Marist in the championship quarterfinals. The Spartans feature a pair of 6-1 players in the middle and right side, an outstanding senior setter named Whitney Hoff and a young phenom on the outside in freshman Zoe Martin. The Spartans never trailed in game one of their best two out of three match, winning 25-19. Down 17-9, Astoria made a run with sophomore setter Kayce Lilley on serve. Lilley, who handled all of the setting duties on Saturday with senior setter Sara Cullen taking her SAT test, normally does not serve for Astoria. Lilley served five straight points with an ace and set for a pair of kills to Sophie DeWitt and one to Hilary O'Bryan before a service error gave Marist a side out with the lead trimmed to 18-15.
Marist's twin towers carried them down the stretch, as right side hitter Molly Stephenson had three kills and sophomore middle blocker Allie Rogers had a stuff block and assisted on a double block of Meredith Barnes tip attempt to cinch game point.
In the second game, Marist again stormed to an early advantage against a frustratingly passive Astoria attack. Three service errors stalled their early momentum and Astoria began chipping into the Spartans' 9-4 lead. The Fishermen used a strong block with DeWitt and Kristen Saulsbury recording two solo blocks each. A Hilary O'Bryan crosscourt set to Emily Bunnell for a kill knotted the game at 18 and Astoria took its first lead on a Martin hitting error.
While the Fishermen were cautious to a fault, it played in their favor in game two as the Spartans committed seven attack errors to just two for Astoria as the Fishermen pulled out a 25-21 win, forcing a deciding game three.
This time Astoria got in front first on a DeWitt kill and a Spartan attack error. Marist scored back-to-back points on a Martin kill and a shot into the net by Saulsbury, who was limited to a single kill in the match. The teams traded short rallies with Marist taking an 8-6 lead on an ace serve by Martin. The Spartans reached game point on a DeWitt shot wide of the mark, but Astoria caught a break when a bump over by Lilley found a soft spot in the middle and dropped in for a point. Sophie DeWitt fired an ace serve and Saulbury, who appeared to have little spring left in her legs, got up to put away an overpass for her only kill of the night. Lilley followed with a well-executed dump set off a Dani Bergeson pass to tie the game at 14, but a netted shot by Saulsbury ended the rally and Martin thumped her ninth kill of the match to end Astoria's day with a 16-14 game three result.
Junior middle blocker also finished with nine kills for the Spartans, while opposite hitter Molly Stephenson contributed eight kills and four assists. Senior setter Whitney Hoff played an outstanding match with 29 assists and two dump kills. Astoria's DeWitt had a match-high 10 kills with two solo blocks and Lilley set 20 assists with three kills.
Marist went on to lose to Estacada 25-22, 25-16 in the semifinals while La Grande took care of Sisters 25-20, 25-18. La Grande's Josi Lyman, a 6-0 senior setter and hitter and a leading state player of the year candidate who is being recruited at the Division I level, recorded a double-double in the championship match with 14 assists and 10 kills, while serving a perfect 12-for-12. The Tigers also got some big plays at the net by junior middle blocker Maggie Yeates, who recorded two stuff blocks and two kills down the stretch in game two as La Grande came from 14-11 and 23-21 down to defeat Estacada 27-25 in game two of the sweep.
Seaside finished third in a 3-team pool with La Salle and North Bend, but the Gulls took a game from each team, before defeating Philomath in the consolation quarterfinals. Stayton knocked off Seaside in the consolation semis before beating rival Cascade in the finals.
Last year, North Bend defeated Estacada in the championship game of the tournament, then duplicated the feat at Lane Community College in November to bring home the school's first volleyball title.
This year, top-ranked and undefeated Estacada exacted swift revenge by pummelling the Bulldogs 25-12, 25-8 on the way to another finals appearance. But, the number two-ranked team in the state, the La Grande Tigers, sent Estacada packing with a 25-20, 27-25 win in the final game of the day, setting off a wild celebration. After all, the winner of this tournament is pretty well assured of making a deep run in the state playoffs.
La Grande swept through pool play and the championship bracket without dropping a game. However, Astoria was only team other than Estacada to make the Tigers work. After taking the Fishermen 25-16 in the first game of their pool play matchup, Astoria stretched the Tigers to extra points before falling 26-24, as La Grande took the top spot and Astoria the number two position from the pool. The wins were sweet for the Tigers, who dropped a 5-game match to Astoria at last year's state tournament to end their season.
Astoria faced Marist in the championship quarterfinals. The Spartans feature a pair of 6-1 players in the middle and right side, an outstanding senior setter named Whitney Hoff and a young phenom on the outside in freshman Zoe Martin. The Spartans never trailed in game one of their best two out of three match, winning 25-19. Down 17-9, Astoria made a run with sophomore setter Kayce Lilley on serve. Lilley, who handled all of the setting duties on Saturday with senior setter Sara Cullen taking her SAT test, normally does not serve for Astoria. Lilley served five straight points with an ace and set for a pair of kills to Sophie DeWitt and one to Hilary O'Bryan before a service error gave Marist a side out with the lead trimmed to 18-15.
Marist's twin towers carried them down the stretch, as right side hitter Molly Stephenson had three kills and sophomore middle blocker Allie Rogers had a stuff block and assisted on a double block of Meredith Barnes tip attempt to cinch game point.
In the second game, Marist again stormed to an early advantage against a frustratingly passive Astoria attack. Three service errors stalled their early momentum and Astoria began chipping into the Spartans' 9-4 lead. The Fishermen used a strong block with DeWitt and Kristen Saulsbury recording two solo blocks each. A Hilary O'Bryan crosscourt set to Emily Bunnell for a kill knotted the game at 18 and Astoria took its first lead on a Martin hitting error.
While the Fishermen were cautious to a fault, it played in their favor in game two as the Spartans committed seven attack errors to just two for Astoria as the Fishermen pulled out a 25-21 win, forcing a deciding game three.
This time Astoria got in front first on a DeWitt kill and a Spartan attack error. Marist scored back-to-back points on a Martin kill and a shot into the net by Saulsbury, who was limited to a single kill in the match. The teams traded short rallies with Marist taking an 8-6 lead on an ace serve by Martin. The Spartans reached game point on a DeWitt shot wide of the mark, but Astoria caught a break when a bump over by Lilley found a soft spot in the middle and dropped in for a point. Sophie DeWitt fired an ace serve and Saulbury, who appeared to have little spring left in her legs, got up to put away an overpass for her only kill of the night. Lilley followed with a well-executed dump set off a Dani Bergeson pass to tie the game at 14, but a netted shot by Saulsbury ended the rally and Martin thumped her ninth kill of the match to end Astoria's day with a 16-14 game three result.
Junior middle blocker also finished with nine kills for the Spartans, while opposite hitter Molly Stephenson contributed eight kills and four assists. Senior setter Whitney Hoff played an outstanding match with 29 assists and two dump kills. Astoria's DeWitt had a match-high 10 kills with two solo blocks and Lilley set 20 assists with three kills.
Marist went on to lose to Estacada 25-22, 25-16 in the semifinals while La Grande took care of Sisters 25-20, 25-18. La Grande's Josi Lyman, a 6-0 senior setter and hitter and a leading state player of the year candidate who is being recruited at the Division I level, recorded a double-double in the championship match with 14 assists and 10 kills, while serving a perfect 12-for-12. The Tigers also got some big plays at the net by junior middle blocker Maggie Yeates, who recorded two stuff blocks and two kills down the stretch in game two as La Grande came from 14-11 and 23-21 down to defeat Estacada 27-25 in game two of the sweep.
Seaside finished third in a 3-team pool with La Salle and North Bend, but the Gulls took a game from each team, before defeating Philomath in the consolation quarterfinals. Stayton knocked off Seaside in the consolation semis before beating rival Cascade in the finals.
posted by Matt Richert at 12:13 PM
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