Stayton High’s volleyball team appeared to be on a mission. On the other side of the net, Philomath just couldn’t break out of a weird funk on the court. And in the end, the Eagles rolled to a 25-10, 25-23, 25-23 victory.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Stayton but we forgot to show up tonight,” PHS coach Whitney Thomas said. “We literally could not do anything right. We couldn’t string any points together, we couldn’t string any passes or any hits together. It was just a real off night.”
Philomath defeated Stayton on the road back on Sept. 25 in convincing fashion, 25-17, 25-17, 25-16.
In this rematch, the Eagles (7-9 overall, 4-3 Oregon West) took control early in the first set with an 8-1 run that put the Warriors in a hole they could never escape. Stayton cruised from there to win the opening set by 15 points. In fact, it was the fewest points Philomath had scored in a full set this season.
Philomath (11-5, 5-2) appeared to find its footing in the second set by jumping out to a 6-1 lead. Junior Nora Stanley recorded a kill for the fifth point and senior Taylor Hudson added an ace serve on the sixth point before the visitors called timeout to the cheers of the home crowd.
The Warriors extended their lead to 17-10, but Stayton responded with eight consecutive points to grab an 18-17 advantage. The two teams battled back and forth with Philomath holding a 23-22 lead late in the set.
However, the Eagles finished strong. Junior Kathryn Samek delivered a kill to tie it up at 23-23, and a four-contacts fault by Philomath led to set point. On the next play, the Warriors tried to get the ball to senior Shaylee May on the left side, but the pass came too close to the net and Stayton claimed the point for a 2-0 match lead.
In the third set, Philomath once again started strong by taking four of the first five points. But the Eagles battled back and built a 19-14 advantage. The Warriors then mounted an 8-2 run to take a 22-21 lead. May powered the surge with kills on the team’s 15th, 17th and 20th points, while sophomore Riley Martin contributed an ace on the 19th point. May added an ace serve on the 21st point to tie the set, and Stanley’s kill gave Philomath a 22-21 edge.
The momentum shifted dramatically when Stayton junior Erin Stutrud came up with a stuff block to tie the set at 22-22. The Eagles scored two more points when a Philomath block landed out of bounds and a hit attempt sailed long. Facing match point, the Warriors stayed alive on a Stanley kill, but Stayton closed out the sweep on a kill by junior Zuri Andersen.
Thomas noted it was an unusual performance for her squad.
“Sometimes you have a couple of hitters that have an off night and everybody else kind of picks them up,” Thomas said. “But tonight, I think everybody was off … and that’s rough to overcome.”
Stanley had a team-high nine kills while May and junior Megan Ward each added seven. Senior Avery Smith finished with 22 assists.
The Warriors will try to right the ship Thursday when Oregon West Conference leader Cascade visits the PHS gym. The match is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.
“We’ll learn from it and move on,” Thomas said. “We have Cascade on Thursday so we better learn from it quickly.”
Stayton 3, Philomath 0
Tuesday, Oct. 14, at Philomath HS
| Stayton (7-9, 4-3) | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Philomath 11-5, 5-2) | 10 | 23 | 23 |
