Philomath High’s killer instinct on the volleyball court continues to be a work in progress.
The Warriors dominated their first set Tuesday night at Cascade by 11 points but lost momentum in the second and third sets and came up short by two points in each to fall into a hole. Then in the fourth, the home-court Cougars rolled to take sole possession of first place in the Oregon West Conference.
Taking the court again on Thursday for another league matchup, this time in front of a home crowd, the Warriors dominated North Marion by scoring 50 of the match’s first 66 points. But then somehow in the third set, things start to slip a little against a team that was clearly overmatched.
“I definitely think we need to stop getting comfortable when we’re in the lead,” said junior Megan Ward, who contributed with some of the hardest-hit balls of the night. “I feel like we’ve definitely learned to not let one bad attitude bring us all down and to lift up the person who’s having a bad time.”
Philomath snapped back to life in the fourth set and ended up with a 25-9, 25-7, 24-26, 25-7 victory.
“We definitely did get comfortable way too quickly — not that we were cocky but we were like, ‘OK, it’s an easy win now,’” Ward said about what unfolded in that third set. “We need to work on keeping the same momentum through the whole game. Volleyball is a game of momentum.”
The Warriors appeared as though they were on the way to a sweep with a 15-9 lead in the third set. The Huskies were struggling with their serve-receive and senior Shaylee May served for five straight points. But North Marion rallied and led 24-21 at one point before the Warriors tried to steal it late.
The Huskies served long, junior Nora Stanley had a monster kill and then she followed with another hit to tie the set, 24-24. North Marion benefited from a serve that sailed long, however, and then closed it out.
The Warriors didn’t mess around in the fourth set and scored 12 of the first 13 points. Senior Avery Smith and senior Taylor Hudson each had long stretches at the service line. Later in the set, senior Isabelle Muir served for five straight points to give PHS a 22-4 lead. May had a strong serve on match point to end it.
Nora Stanley had a team-high 16 kills and three ace serves for the Warriors. Hudson finished with 14 kills and Smith had 39 assists.
Ward had her moments on the floor as well.
“I love hitting the ball and Avery gives me dimes like every single time so it makes it easy,” Ward said.
Philomath improves to 9-4 overall and 3-1 in the conference. Cascade was challenged Thursday with a five-set victory over Newport and remains in first place with a 4-0 record.
“It’s going to be a close one this year and I’m hoping we can pull it out,” Ward said about the conference race. “I believe 100% that we are going to be able to win the league this year. It will be hard but we’re going to do it.”
The Warriors will head to Newport for their next match at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Cubs should be a formidable foe and even though they have a sub-.500 record, they have been competitive in all of their matches.
Philomath 3, North Marion 1
Thursday, Oct. 2 at Philomath HS
| North Marion (2-9, 0-4) | 9 | 7 | 26 | 7 |
| Philomath (9-4, 3-1) | 25 | 25 | 24 | 25 |
