Philomath volleyball coach Whitney Thomas has seen a lot of matches, but nothing like Thursday’s first two sets against Stayton.
The Warriors lost the opening set 25-3 to the conference leaders, then came back and won the second set 25-16. Stayton recovered to win the last two sets and the match 3-1 at Philomath High School, but the turnaround left an impression.
“I’ve never seen one like that in my life,” Thomas said. “I have no idea what happened in the first set, and it doesn’t sound like they do either. But no, I was really proud of them.”
Stayton (12-2 overall, 5-0 Oregon West) won 25-3, 16-25, 25-16, 25-15. Philomath (3-13, 0-5) closed out its first tour through the league schedule and starts over Tuesday at home against Newport.
Senior setter Cheyenne Adams, who had 20 assists on the evening, said the team decided between sets to let the first one go.
“I think we just realized there’s no better time to play than right now,” Adams said. “So we took it for what it is, and we came back and played volleyball like we usually do.”
In the second set, the Warriors trailed only at 2-1 and 3-2. Senior Nora Stanley’s block gave Philomath a 5-4 lead, and the Warriors never trailed again in the set.
Stayton pulled within 16-15 on an ace, but Philomath answered with eight straight points. The run started with a Stayton hit into the net, and Stanley served the next seven points. The Eagles made some hitting errors during the stretch, and the Warriors added kills by Stanley and senior Marri Best, and a block by junior Luci Alley. Stanley ended the set with a kill.
Philomath carried that momentum into the third set and led 12-10. But then Stayton scored seven straight points to take control.
In the fourth set, the Warriors trailed only 11-9 at one point, but Stayton pulled away again.
Thomas said cutting down on the opponent’s long scoring runs is still the team’s focus.
“We’re still working on peaks and valleys,” she said. “In volleyball, you’re trying to maintain through an entire set and through a match, and cut down on runs of points. Essentially, that’s what happened in the first set, and it happened a couple of other times. When you can’t make anything positive happen on serve receive, it gets out of hand quickly. So we’re working on that.”
Nora Stanley led Philomath with 20 kills. Alley and sophomore Alyssa Stanley each had five stuff blocks and more than 25 touches on blocks.
Thomas singled out Alley’s play at the net against a strong Stayton hitting lineup.
“Luci played amazing tonight,” Thomas said. “Luci has worked really hard on blocking and on catching up to the tempo of playing varsity volleyball, trying to catch up and be able to read. This is a great hitting team from Stayton. … I think she was probably who I was impressed with the most tonight, really defensively at the net.”
Philomath lost eight players from last season and has a roster with little varsity experience. Thomas said the improvement this season hasn’t shown up in the record.
“They have improved so much. I don’t even know the last time I coached a team that has had this much growth and improvement in a season,” she said. “I know it doesn’t look like that in terms of the record and scores at times, but they’re collectively learning to play together and really just learning and growing.”
Thomas said the players have big goals for the second time through the league.
“I think they’re all very much looking forward to playing everybody again in the league,” she said.
Adams said the team’s friendships help hold it together through the losses.
“We’re all friends off the court. We hang out all the time, we get along, and so I think we’re able to treat each other as people rather than just teammates and players,” she said. “We know each other a lot more than just as volleyball players.”
Adams acknowledged that a losing season can be draining.
“It can get difficult mentally, but you get over it,” she said.
Her message for the younger players was simple.
“Take it for what it is. If you lose, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Adams said. “So just take the wins as the wins and move on from the losses — and just have fun.”
Stayton 3, Philomath 1
Thursday, Oct. 8, at Philomath HS
Teams (Record) 1 2 3 4 Stayton (12-2, 5-0) 25 16 25 25 Philomath (3-13, 0-5) 3 25 16 15
