The Philomath High School boys volleyball team placed sixth over the weekend at the Oregon High School Boys Volleyball Association’s state tournament following a trophy-match showdown against none other than Newport, the school that tied the Warriors for first place in the regular-season District 2 standings.
The appearance at the state tournament capped the inaugural season of PHS boys volleyball.
“They made PHS sport history this weekend,” Warriors coach Helen Bennett said, “and I had the honor and privilege of being a part of it.”
The Warriors (17-8) and Cubs (14-8) ended up in the fourth-/sixth-place match with a high noon showdown Sunday at the Olympus Sports Center in Hillsboro. The Cubs had come into the tournament as the No. 2 seed and lost their tournament-opening match Saturday to Molalla in straight sets before regrouping for a four-set win over Phoenix. Fourth-seeded Philomath, meanwhile, lost in four sets to Cascade in its first action on Saturday but took care of Marshfield in a three-set consolation win.
Newport pulled off the win in what proved to be another epic battle between the two teams, 19-25, 25-21, 12-25, 25-20, 17-15.
“However heartbreaking it was to lose — with a few boys and their coach emotional — it wasn’t anything to be sad about,” Bennett said. “It’s a tremendous feeling to go down fighting, knowing you played your heart out and left it all on the court. The boys played their best when it counted most and they can hold their heads high because of it along with that sixth-place trophy.”
It was the fifth time that Philomath and Newport squared off on the volleyball court — each school beating the other twice during the regular season and both ended up 10-2 in the district’s final standings.
PHS senior Carson Winder had a big match against Newport with 14 kills, four blocks and eight aces — including six aces alone in the third set. Junior Chris Eaton pitched in eight kills, and senior Isac Marcelo and junior Antonio Martinez each served three aces. Senior Raul Sanchez finished with 20 digs and had 80% passing efficiency — a statistic that measures pass quality on serve receptions.
The Warriors opened the tournament Saturday with a loss to Cascade, 25-16, 25-18, 25-27, 25-21. The Cougars, which has an athlete who plans to play at the Division I level in college, ended up with third place in the tournament.
“After the first set jitters, we battled hard, getting better as the match went on, even winning the third set, 27-25, but they had too much fire power,” Bennett said.
Winder had nine kills and four blocks against Cascade. Eaton finished with five kills.
The loss dropped Philomath in the consolation bracket to face Marshfield, a league opponent that Philomath swept this season.
“We knew we couldn’t take them for granted and had to beat them to have a shot for the fourth-/sixth-place trophies in the consolation bracket final,” Bennett said.
The Warriors won the match in straight sets, 25-12, 25-18, 27-25. Philomath had a dozen ace serves in the victory and at the net, Eaton had four kills and Winder had four blocks.
Estacada, third-seeded team, ended up winning the championship with a five-set victory over top-seeded Crook County.
Boys volleyball is designated as an “emerging sport” and does not yet have the full sanctioning of the Oregon School Activities Association. Boys volleyball is in its second year of the OSAA’s evaluation period.
Bennett said participating in the OHSBVA tournament was a great experience for the team.
“Looking back to how we started this season with only a few players with any volleyball skills — most only experiencing the game in PE classes — it’s amazing how much they’ve improved,” she said. “Obviously the learning curve is high when you start at square one. But I don’t know of another sport that has so many individual skills needed to perform, for almost every player to learn, in addition to understanding rules, rotations, positions, player exchanges and offensive and defensive strategies.”
Bennett added, “So for us to go 10-2 in league, 17-8 overall and finish with a sixth-place trophy our first year, I couldn’t be more proud of their hard work, commitment and success.”