On the boys volleyball court this spring, Philomath and Newport have shown hints that a rivalry may be forming. The Warriors took the first two in marathon matches that stretched to five sets. The Cubs have won the last two meetings, including Tuesday night in a best-of-3 match in the PHS gym.
The two teams are now tied for first place in the Special District 2 standings.
Sports roundup: PHS track and field sends several athletes to Stayton meet
The Philomath High School track and field program sent boys and girls teams to compete in a four-school meet Tuesday at Stayton. Brothers CD and Dreyton Nuño combined for four individual victories. CD Nuño, junior, won both the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash with personal-record times of 11.35 and 22.70 seconds, respectively. Dreyton Nuño, freshman,…
“I think it’s more of a friendly competition than a rivalry,” PHS senior Carson Winder said Tuesday after the Warriors had played three matches over roughly four hours. “I’ve actually grown to like a couple of the other guys on the team and we’ve had a good friendship.”
Newport edged the Warriors, 17-25, 25-15, 15-6, in a match the Cubs pretty much needed to keep their hopes alive of winning the league title. Philomath won its other two matches over Marshfield, 25-21, 25-15 and North Bend, 25-16, 25-18.
Philomath has won eight of 10 matches in district play and overall has an 11-5 record. The team has been forced to juggle its lineup in recent weeks based on the availability of players.
“For losing players in our lineup, we’ve been doing a great job,” Winder said. “We’ve bounced back super well, we’re running different plays, different rotations and overall, I’m very proud of how we’ve been playing.”
Head coach Helen Bennett said the team played its best volleyball in the first set of the match against Newport.
“We were just a well-oiled machine,” Bennett said. “We looked so smooth and it was crazy with minimal mistakes and the guys were having fun. It was just great to see.”
But Newport shook off its rough start and took advantage of a momentum shift in the second set.
“Our serve-receive struggled at the start of the second set and we got into a big hole,” Bennett said. “We started to chip away but it was too much to overcome.”
Philomath closed on a somewhat high note in the second set and appeared poised for another momentum shift but Newport fought through it.
“It was really hard and deflating for the boys because they played their best set ever (in the first vs. Newport),” Bennett said. “I mean, it was beauty in motion — but that’s how volleyball works. It’s a team sport and if someone’s struggling on hitting or passing, it affects everyone mentally. But they were fired up to play today and I think this new look of a starting lineup is really starting to jell.”
With three matches scheduled, Bennett had requested that each be limited to three sets instead of the typical five.
The team celebrated the athletes that will be graduating from the program. In addition to Winder, other seniors on the roster include Ethan Aynes, Aiden Carrier, Isac Marcelo, Peter Reed and Raul Sanchez.
The Warriors are scheduled to play Thursday at Creswell with matches against the host school and Thurston. Next week, Philomath heads to North Bend to play that school along with Marshfield. The regular season then wraps up with participation in a tournament at Estacada.
The Class 4A “culminating event” will feature an eight-team bracket with automatic qualifiers and the highest-ranked teams. The tournament, organized by Oregon High School Boys Volleyball, is scheduled for May 24-25 at the Olympus Sports Center in Hillsboro.
The Oregon School Activities Association labels boys volleyball as an “emerging activity” and does not yet recognize it as a sponsored sport, thus, no state tournament is organized.
It appears to be a given that Philomath will be participating in the Class 4A culminating event. In fact, the Warriors have the best overall record among the 11 schools in Class 4A with boys volleyball teams.
Besides Philomath and Newport, other top 4A schools this season appear to be Crook County (8-4), Estacada (7-6) and Cascade (6-8).
