Prep Volleyball: Mark Morris scrambles for Civil War win at R.A. Long
Roundup: Plus scores and reports from around the Blast Zone
Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com
Mark Morris volleyball coach Carmen Hewitt knows all about the unique confines of The Lumberdome. As member of the R.A. Long volleyball program back when she was a student, and then again as an assistant coach for the Lumberjills to start her coaching career, Hewitt has had plenty of opportunity to see how the Civilian Conservation Corps architecture can impact the outcome of games.
For those who aren’t familiar, The Lumber”dome” is a bit of a misnomer. That’s because R.A. Long’s home gymnasium is actually a cube constructed of old growth timbers. What’s more, the ceiling above Joe Moses Court is as low any lid in at least three counties and its ever looming presence means there are special ground rules to consider when teams unload off the bus on Nichols Avenue.
“This ceiling is tough, right? It is tough,” Hewitt noted. “Even those little ones where the help balls go high outside and hit the ceiling and fall, those can be really defeating. So it is imperative that you’re ready for help defense all the time. You’re more out of system than in-system in a gym like this.”
In the season’s first indoor Civil War, the Monarchs managed to make enough adjustments on the fly to come away with a close-shave four-set victory over R.A. Long in 2A Greater St. Helens League play Tuesday night. Mark Morris took the match by scores of 25-23, 25-23, 13-25, and 26-24.
That effort was highlighted by the play of Rio Deiter, who posted a match-high 35 assists while stepping in to fill a critical spot due to an injury sustained by Zoe Cole over the weekend.
“What a mentally tough player to come in and run the offense in an atmosphere like this,” Hewitt said of Deiter. “That was her first step into a Civil War game. She’s a sophomore and she ran it. Just ice in her veins.”
Alena Anderson led the Monarchs with 10 kills and Aliyah Yaple added eight kills to go with 14 digs.
Every dig and every kill was important in the rivalry match as the Monarchs won each of their sets by the bare minimum two point margin.
“That could have gone either way, and so could matches with six other teams in our league,” Hewitt said. “Volleyball is wild. It’s such a momentum sport and rallies like that can either give you the energy or suck the energy.”
The Monarchs had plenty of players doing their part to make sure the vacuum didn’t reverse flow for too long during any given set. Analiz Birrueta led the defensive work for the visitors with 28 digs to go with her four aces.
“Analiz had beautiful in-system leadership, and Aela Mcneilly coming off the net to help with those in the hole balls, too,” Hewitt noted. “Just a beautiful effort all the way around.”
McNeilly posted seven kills and six aces to help the Monarchs keep the momentum and Lexi Gunter added 15 digs for the Monarchs. Meanwhile, Yaple and Makenzie Henthorn both managed to pass above 80% in serve-receive situations. Henthorn added four kills and an ace that sealed the win in the first set.
“Makenzie Henthorn was all over coverage. She hit incredibly well and kept things controlled,” Hewitt said. “And Lexi Gunter had an amazing defensive effort tonight.”
Jills keep buming their heads
“We were just inconsistent,” R.A. Long coach Whitney Nailon said. “We weren’t able to get in our groove… I mean we scored 95 points to their 89. We outscored them but we just weren’t able to grab the momentum, and when we did grab the momentum we weren’t able to make it click.”
Indeed, untimely errors at the net and the service stripe conspired to keep the Jills from celebrating with their home fans after the match. It’s an issue that R.A. Long will have to correct quickly as the season reaches the midway point.
“We went back to the service line and just drilled it into the bottom of the net and we can’t do that if we want to sniff the playoffs,” Nailon said.
Macy Graichen led the Jills with 10 kills, six digs and an ace in the loss. Lyla Khlee added a team-high 15 assists to go with four kills, four digs and three aces, while Jillian Woodruff posted a dozen digs, a half dozen kills, seven digs and a pair of aces.
Like Mark Morris, the Lumberjills were playing with an altered lineup for much of the night after middle blocker Ryane Hayes was struck in the head by a ball during warmups. But other players in red and black were ready to step up.
“Rowan Ward, Mikayla Sorenson and Kamrynne Miranda came in and did an incredible job with being engaged in defense and keeping balls alive,” Nailon said. “The kind of defense I saw from Rowan was, what’s the word… it was impressive. I was impressed.”
Evelyn Ofstun added a big presence for the Jills at the net with eight kills and one block.
So does the Jills’ coach believe her team would have been celebrating at the end of the night if they’d been able to push the match to five sets? Absolutely.
“Oh ya. We played side out with them for three sets and then went and smoked the ball at them 25-13,” Nailon said. “That’s the team we are, not this 26-24 score and just bopping the ball back and forth. That’s not going to get it done.”
Around the League
Most teams in the 2A GSHL have played each other by now and by Thursday the first half of the regular season will officially be in the bag. So what does Hewitt see when she looks around at the league this season? Well, first of all she sees two familiar teams at the very top with Columbia River and Ridgefield once again doing their two-team tango to league superiority.
But after that, the Monarchs’ boss believes it’s going to be a dogfight for the remaining playoff spots with her own squad, Woodland, Hockinson, Washougal and R.A. Long all playing similar styles of volleyball at the moment.
“Everyone is very even and it’s going to come down to who’s on and who’s doing the little things, who’s playing fundamental volleyball,” Hewitt said.
As for the Lumberjills, they’re going to be rehashing the film to see what exactly went wrong before returning to league play later this week.
“It’s frustrating. It doesn’t make or break our season but it wasn’t the outcome we expected,” Nailon said.
R.A. Long (3-5, 2-5 league) will host Black Hills for a non-league contest on Wednesday at 7 p.m., before welcoming Ridgefield to The Lumberdome on Thursday night for a league contest.
Mark Morris (4-5, 3-3 league) will host Columbia River on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Beavers register sweep at Hockinson
Woodland was able to pick up an efficient road win over Hockinson, Tuesday, by scores of 25-18, 25-15 and 26-24 in 2A GSHL action.
Savannah Doughty led the Beavers’ offense with eight kills on 14 attempts for a hitting percentage of .571. Ella Petersen added seven kills on 16 attempts for Woodland.
Faith Hay tallied three aces from the service stripe and Kennedy Bockert posted six blocks in the win.
Woodland (2-6, 2-4 league) will host Washougal on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Hilanders get tough at Union
The Hilanders needed four sets to lock down a non-league win on the road against 4A Union by scores of 25-23, 23-25, 25-21 and 25-20.
Halle Johnson led Kelso on both offense and defense with a team-high 18 assists to go with 12 digs. Royal Grafton wanted in on that leadership role, too, posting a team-highs in kills (15) and digs (18).
The Hilanders saw some players in different positions against Union and the results were encouraging.
“Maali Amrine stepped in for injured Josie McNew and handled the pressure with three aces and 10 digs,” Kelso coach Michelle Mury said.
Mury noted that Shenna McGregor was also playing aggressively with nine kills to her name, while Izzy Moe posted 13 digs and Ashlyn Rennells added 10 more.
Not to be left out, Addie Hislop turned in 14 assists and six digs, while Skylar Richie notched seven kills and Tru Bettineski turned up seven digs.
Kelso (4-2) will host Battle Ground on Thursday at 7 p.m.
‘Nooks knock off White Salmon
Despite losing the first two sets on the road, Tuesday, Kalama was able to pick up a five-set win on the road at White Salmon in order to keep pace in the 1A Trico League. The Chinooks came out on top after a long night of volleyball with scores of 15-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-22 and 15-11.
Jacey Hutchinson kept the visitor’s offense humming with 33 assists, four kills and two aces. Emily Capen added 12 kills, 12 digs and seven aces, while Zella Storedahl notched a dozen kills and five digs. Sophia Trevino was also instrumental in the win with six kills, six digs and three aces.
On defense, Kalama had all hands on deck to help reverse course after a slow start. Taylor Hoggatt posted 19 digs with a 2.0 score on her serve-receive efforts. Meanwhile, Hiley Lawson and Colbie Manninen each tallied 12 digs in the win.
Kalama (5-3, 2-3 league) will host King’s Way Christian on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Rockets blown away by Seton Catholic
Castle Rock came up short in its quest for a home win over Seton Catholic, Tuesday, dropping the 1A Trico League contest by scores of 25-14, 25-15 and 25-19.
Madison Feist led the Rockets with five blocks at the net, while Bailey Sibbett notched five kills on 14 attempts to go with five aces.
But that wasn’t all of the encouraging news from the night for the hosts.
“Ellie (Foster) and Tenley (Spencer) rocked the back row with 35 great passes,” first-year Castle Rock coach Katie Munoz said. “Shyleena (Watkins) stepped up and kept us in with her serving and hitting.”
Castle Rock (1-6, 1-4 league) will host Columbia-White Salmon on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Ducks dump Ony with the quickness
Toutle Lake was able to take out Onalaska on the road in three sets of non-league play between Central 2B League volleyball foes, Tuesday, by scores of 25-17, 25-23 and 25-20.
The Fighting Ducks were the benefactors of a balanced offensive attack that saw Lainey Dean, Kendal Dean and Audrey Kilponen all notch five kills. Kendal Dean posted four aces to go with eight digs, nine assists and a block, while Lainey Dean added six aces to go with five digs, and Kilponen chipped in two blocks on defense.
Toutle Lake also performed well at the service stripe. Jillian Eytcheson was 12 of 13 on her serve attempts with three service points to go with 10 assists, three digs and a kill. Anna Reinbold was also nearly perfect from the line, landing 12 of 13 serves in the rectangle while tallying seven digs. And Karly Opsahl was error free on a dozen serves, with seven points coming on her turn.
Toutle Lake (4-3, 0-1 league) will host Morton-White Pass on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.
Riverhawks run out of juice against MWP
Toledo was unable to dig out of a two-set deficit, Tuesday, in a four-set loss at home to Morton-White Pass in non-league play between Central 2B League rivals.
Ellie Fallon led the Riverhawks with 21 digs and a dozen kills, while Sidney Kruger added 31 assists and 10 digs, but it wasn’t enough to get by the T-Wolves.
“We were down a starting (outside hitter) and just couldn't find our rhythm to run our offense in an efficient way,” Toledo coach Kelli Larson said. “Starting slow, we did build momentum in the third and fourth sets but didn't have enough to take it to the fifth set.”
Taysia Miller added a dozen digs and eight kills in the loss, while Abbie Umbriaco tallied six kills and Brenna Carer dropped in four aces.
Toledo (2-5) will begin league play by hosting Napavine on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Comets cruise to win at Lake Quinault
Naselle made sure to enjoy the long drive to Amanda Park, Tuesday, before registering a quick sweep of Lake Quinault by scores of 25-7, 25-17 and 25-18 in 1B volleyball action.
Jesse Smith led the Comets with 16 assists and 10 aces in north Grays Harbor County. Haylee Rose added eight kills and two blocks in the win.
“Our defense was passing well for our setters to give quality sets to our hitters,” Naselle coach Rebekah Wirkkala said. “We like seeing all our offensive threats being involved in the put away.”
Naselle also saw Mylee Dunagan notch six kills, while Mylinh Schell tallied eight assists and three aces. Brooke Davis added six digs and five kills for the Comets, and Sophia Colombo managed to post seven digs in short time.
“Hoping we can remain this consistent as the season progresses,” Wirkkala added.
Naselle (5-6, 1-0 league) will host Taholah at 7 p.m., Thursday.
Mules mowed over by Willapa Valley
Wahkiakum kept things close to start with, Monday, but couldn’t get over the hump in a sweep at the hands of Willapa Valley in non-league 1B volleyball action in Menlo. The Mules fell by scores of 25-23, 25-19 and 25-20.
“The first set we came out hot and gained a 10 or so point lead,” Wahkiakum coach Kayli Hurley said. “The Vikings slowly chipped away and kept the ball alive until we made just enough errors to swing the score their way.”
Amy Horman led Wahkiakum with six kills and Helen Lewis put up four kills to go with one stuff block. Jessie Lafever, Ryen Hurley and Evy Hogue were all perfect from the service line.
“It was tough to recover the momentum,” Hurley said. “We did some good things, just plagued with too many unforced errors.”
Wahkiakum (5-3) will host Firm Foundation on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Clatskanie sweeps at Venonia
The Tigers stacked another league win, Tuesday, with a three-set victory at Venonia by scores of 25-11, 25-19, and 25-23 out in the woodlands of Oregon Country.
“Lacey Willis (led us) with nine kills three aces and (was) dialed in (on) serve-receive,” Clatskanie coach Amanda Baker said.
Natalie Baker added six kills to go with seven aces and two blocks. Joey Sizemore posted six kills and eight digs, while Olivia George notched five kills and one ace serve.
Clatskanie (12-2, 6-1 league) will host Faith Bible/Life Christian on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The Tigers are set to play at Nestucca on Thursday night.
The Rest of the Scores*
Oakville 3, Three Rivers Christian 1
North Beach 3, Ilwaco 1
Riverdale 3, Rainier (Ore.) 2
Columbia Adventist 3, Winlock 1 (Monday)
*Scores/reports for these matches were not provided to Blast Zone Media. Please send scores, reports and all other news tips to blastzonenews@gmail.com.