Since taking over the helm of the Philomath High School volleyball program, Denee Newton’s coaching repertoire has always included tactical elements with layers of an almost scientific approach to the game. She can pull out an opponent’s attack tendencies complete with a multi-colored spray chart to illustrate strategies to her players.

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In practice, athletes are not limited to physical action on the court but include whiteboard sessions with conversations on specific parts of the game.

“Yesterday, we had — they might call it a slow practice — but we did a whole course on defensive systems just from beginning to end and we had them write principles,” Newton said. “They were all on our whiteboard in the back and so we were just really practicing for Thursday and tonight, just making sure we’re looking at the other side and tracking their attackers.”

Philomath (5-5 overall, 4-2 Oregon West) on Tuesday night overwhelmed a struggling Newport squad with a three-set sweep, 25-18, 25-6, 25-8. The Warriors can now turn their full attention to Cascade in a match that will have a major impact on the conference standings.

“We’ve been trying to get them to think about where the majority of the attackers go,” Newton said, mentioning how one opponent may hit mostly from the outside while another might be more focused on the middle. “So we were just working out some stuff and thinking about Thursday. These girls were just excited to play tonight and they did great; they met their goals.”

Warriors senior Reagan Larson sets the ball for a teammate on Tuesday against the Cubs. (Photo by Brad Fuqua/Philomath News)

It’s difficult to not think about the Cascade match, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday on the road. The two teams had a classic marathon battle back on Sept. 7 in the PHS gym with the Warriors winning in five sets after dropping the first two. The Cougars haven’t lost a conference match since and in their last two have taken down both Sisters and Sweet Home.

With the first trip through the league now complete, the Oregon West standings show Cascade and Sisters at 5-1 with Sweet Home and Philomath at 4-2.

The Warriors had few problems against Newport on Tuesday, although the Cubs pushed the home team a bit in the opening set. Tied at 12-12, Philomath finally started to take control with four straight points, a run that included an Ashlynn Barron kill.

The Warriors had another four-point run a short time later with two coming on Abigail Brown aces and one on an Ahnika Tryon tap at the net. Sage Kramer later had the winning point on one of her team-high 11 kills.

Junior Kori Galvan serves late in the third set against Newport. (Photo by Brad Fuqua/Philomath News)

The second and third sets were no contest with Philomath vaulting out to significant leads from the start. In the second set, Barron served for six straight points after a sideout as part of a 7-0 lead. She was also at the service line when the Warriors closed out the set with the final four points. Barron had back-to-back aces, Reagan Larson put the ball over for a point and Kramer came up with a kill to close out the set.

In the third set, Philomath led 5-0 again with Barron at the service line. Abigail Brown later had an impressive run serving with several aces and Kori Galvan was serving when the team scored the final five points to take the match.

The Warriors had a good night serving with a performance that included 22 aces, including seven by Barron and six by Brown. As a team, the Warriors had a 90.5 serve percentage.

On the attack, Barron had nine kills in addition to those 11 by Kramer. Reagan Larson had 23 assists and Brown, Larson and Tryon had blocks. On defense, Taylor Roe finished with 15 digs.

Following the Cascade match on Thursday, the Warriors had been scheduled to play Saturday in the Mt. Hood Classic at Sam Barlow High School but Newton said it has been canceled. She was unsuccessful at trying to find a replacement tournament.

Philomath 3, Newport 0
Tuesday, Sept. 28, at Philomath HS

TEAMS (RECORDS)	SET 1	SET 2	SET 3	FINAL
Newport (1-8, 1-5)	18	6	8	0
Philomath (5-5, 4-2)	25	25	25	3

PHS STATISTICS
Kills: Sage Kramer 11, Ashlynn Barron 9, Abigail Brown 4, Reagan Larson 3, Ahnika Tryon 2, Mackenzie Hiner 2. Aces: Barron 7, Brown 6, Taylor Roe 2, Larson 2, Kramer 2, Tryon 1, Galvan 1, Hiner 1. Solo Blocks: Brown 1. Block Assists: Larson 1, Tryon 1. Assists: Larson 23, Roe 4, Galvan 1. Digs: Roe 15, Kramer 7, Brown 7, Barron 5, Clara Stanley 3, Larson 1.

Conference Standings
(As of Sept. 28)

Oregon West	Conf	Pct.	All	Pct.	SW	SL
Cascade Sisters Sweet Home Philomath Stayton Newport Woodburn	5-1 5-1 4-2 4-2 2-4 1-5 0-6	.833 .833 .667 .667 .333 .167 .000	11-2 11-2 5-4 5-5 6-8 1-8 1-8	.846 .846 .556 .500 .429 .111 .111	32 30 15 16 19 6 2	8 7 11 17 23 24 23

SW—Sets won; SL—Sets lost

Saturday, Sept. 25
State Preview Tournament at Albany
Jesuit def. Philomath, 25-18, 25-20
North Marion Tournament
Stayton def. Catlin Gabel, 25-19, 25-17
Stayton def. Woodburn, 25-14, 25-13
Stayton def. Sutherlin, 15-25, 25-14, 15-13
Tuesday, Sept. 28
Philomath def. Newport, 25-18, 25-6, 25-8
Cascade def. Sweet Home, 25-9, 25-11, 25-11
Sisters def. Woodburn, 25-19, 25-8, 25-18
Thursday, Sept. 30
Philomath at Cascade, 6 p.m.
Woodburn at Sweet Home, 6 p.m.
Stayton at Newport, 7 p.m.

JUNIOR VARSITY
Philomath 2, Newport 1
Tuesday, Sept. 28, at Philomath HS

TEAMS	SET 1	SET 2	SET 3	FINAL
Newport	25	12	5	1
Philomath	17	25	15	2

TEAM NOTES

The Philomath JV team goes to 10-5 on the season. … In the win over Newport, Lorelei Schell had 11 aces and Grace Bennett added six aces. … Eva Theurer had six kills and Madison Juhl finished with three. … This past weekend, Philomath went 2-0 in the Silver Bracket at the Harrisburg Tournament with victories of 25-18, 25-3 over Harrisburg’s JV2 team and 23-9, 25-20 over Western Christian. … Against Harrisburg JV2, Schell had 13 aces and Theurer had 10 aces. … Philomath went 0-2-1 in pool play with losses to Pleasant Hill (25-18, 25-10) and Harrisburg (25-12, 25-22) and the tie against Western Christian (21-25, 25-14). … For the tournament, Schell had 29 aces and Theurer finished with 17. Theurer also had eight kills while Grace Bennett and Hannah Bennett each had five. … Philomath’s JV is scheduled to play Thursday at Cascade with the start time set for 4:30 p.m.

JUNIOR VARSITY 2
Philomath 2, Newport 0
Tuesday, Sept. 28, at Philomath HS

TEAMS	SET 1	SET 2	FINAL
Newport	7	10	0
Philomath	25	25	2

TEAM NOTES
The JV2 team played for the first time in several days and took a two-set victory over Newport. … The JV2 team’s record goes to 3-1 on the season. … Hannah Bennett had five aces, Ashley Hamblin had four aces and Madison Provance finished with three aces. … The team is scheduled to play Thursday at Cascade with a 4:30 p.m. start time.