Philomath High’s journey through a punishing early-season schedule continued Thursday with home appearances against Pleasant Hill and Crescent Valley — those matches coming a week after its season opener against Sprague.
The Warriors have yet to take a set and head into this weekend’s South Eugene Invite with an 0-3 record but consider the competition:
Gallery: PHS volleyball vs. Crescent Valley (Sept. 5, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High School’s volleyball match against Crescent Valley on Thursday.
• Sprague is a 6A school that won the fifth-place trophy at state last season, was ranked No. 4 in the OSAAtoday preseason coaches’ poll and currently has a 2-0 record.
• Pleasant Hill, a 3A power that finished state runner-up last year, is off to a 5-0 start this season and was ranked No. 1 in the preseason.
• Crescent Valley took the 5A title last season and was ranked No. 1 in the preseason this fall. The Raiders have a 1-1 record with the loss coming Thursday to the powerful Pleasant Hill squad.
“Our preseason is really hard … we have really good teams stacked,” PHS junior Shaylee May said after the Warriors dropped matches Thursday to Pleasant Hill and Crescent Valley. “Our mindset going into them is to just play our game. Our rotation’s been kind of switched up and we’ve had to deal with that but I think it’s about being a team and playing together.”
In an afternoon matchup, Pleasant Hill defeated the Warriors, 25-11, 25-10 and 25-14. The Billies followed with an impressive 26-24, 25-21, 25-19 victory over Crescent Valley. In the finale, the Raiders downed Philomath 25-13, 25-10 and 25-8.
Crescent Valley senior Kamden Mitchell served the first nine points of the match in its win over Philomath to take control early. Down 11-1 at one point, Philomath showed some fight by coming back with a 9-1 run to cut its deficit to 12-10.
Junior Avery Smith provided a spark with an exceptional block on hard-hitting sophomore Georgia Vawter. The Raiders lost their composure for a bit with a serve into the net and a couple of shots landing wide before Smith struck again with a hit on an assist from senior Ashleigh Brown.
Sophomore Nora Stanley then placed a shot to make the score 12-8. Senior Zoee Howard’s block led to another point and Stanley finished after CV had gotten the ball over the net on the serve receive.
Leading just 12-10, the Raiders regrouped and Philomath had some issues in the areas of passing and serve receive. An 8-1 run by the visitors put the set back in their control and they eventually closed it out on a hit by sophomore Morgan Stoyer.
In the second set, Brown opened by serving an ace on a ball that shanked off CV’s back line. But the Raiders got a side out on Mitchell’s soft touch to start an 11-point run. May stopped the bleeding with a shot inside the back line. The Warriors never fully recovered although the team had a few moments on point-scoring hits by Stanley, Brown, May and Smith.
CV carried the momentum into the third set by starting with a 5-0 run — again with Mitchell at the service line. Junior Taylor Hudson, Brown and Stanley produced points on some hits and Smith had another block but the Raiders’ athleticism and skill were too much to overcome.
“I think we work together at times and we all want to improve,” May said afterward. “I think that’s the biggest thing. We have a good growth mindset, I guess, we’re all really coachable and want to grow.”
On the stat sheet for the two matches combined, Stanley had nine kills and May finished with five. Brown and Smith had ace serves. Hudson and Smith had three and two blocks, respectively.
Philomath now turns its attention to a Saturday 12-team tournament at South Eugene High School. Joining the host school and the Warriors will be Beaverton, Caldera, Churchill, Corvallis, Dallas, Eagle Point, Mountain View, North Eugene, Silverton and West Salem.
Philomath will compete in pool play with South Eugene, Eagle Point and Dallas beginning at 8 a.m. Based on pool play results, teams will then be seeded for bracket play in the afternoon.
The Warriors will return to home-court action on Monday against Scio with the first varsity serve at 6 p.m.
