The Philomath High School volleyball team swept two opponents Tuesday during an appearance at Junction City High School. The Warriors defeated Gladstone, 25-13, 25-14 and 25-12, and followed with a win over the host Tigers, 25-22, 25-19 and 25-14.
The Warriors improved to 3-1 on the season heading into a Thursday evening home match against Salem Academy. The match is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start. Salem Academy, a 2A school, comes in with a 1-1 record.
In the win over the Gladiators, Philomath coach Autumn Hilberg said the team put in a solid all-around match.
“Good serve receive, communication and attack placement kept us ahead the entire match,” Hilberg said. “All 12 players saw good time.”
Senior Ahnika Tryon had a team-high eight kills for the Warriors. Junior Ashleigh Brown tallied 25 of the team’s 29 set assists. At the net, junior Zoee Howard had two blocks. Freshman Nora Stanley had 21 digs on defense. And junior Kynlee Albin had an exceptional performance from the service line.
“Kynlee Albin had a terrific serving night with eight aces while going on long runs from the line,” Hilberg said.
Philomath worked through a loud environment against Junction City to take the opening set by three points.
“Junction City came out with fire and a super loud crowd but we fought it off and pushed through the first set,” Hilberg said.
In the second set, the Tigers led most of the way and were up 19-16 at one point. But the Warriors scored nine straight points to close it out with Tryon serving. In the third set, Nora Stanley opened with an ace and Philomath rolled.
Said Hilberg, “I’m proud of how the team stayed intense and competitive.”
Against Junction City, senior Clara Stanley had eight kills, Brown finished with 25 assists, Albin had three blocks and Nora Stanley was tops for both aces (four) and digs (29).
