The Philomath High School volleyball team clinched a spot in the Class 4A playoffs Thursday night with a 25-14, 25-21, 25-13 victory over Newport.
The Warriors finish the regular season with records of 14-6 overall and 7-2 in the Oregon West Conference. The top two teams in the league automatically move on to the playoffs — Cascade finished first.
Gallery: PHS volleyball vs. Newport (Oct. 23, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s three-set sweep over Newport on Senior Night on Thursday.
“I’m crossing my fingers that we get a home berth,” PHS coach Whitney Thomas said. “Now it’s just waiting for everybody else’s results to see where we end up ranking wise.”
Although the Warriors have wrapped up the regular season, matches are still scheduled elsewhere in 4A until this coming Tuesday. After those play out, the rankings will freeze and automatic qualifiers determined. Plus, the four highest-ranked third-place teams from the league standings will get in as at-large qualifiers.
As of Thursday night, the Warriors were sitting at No. 5 in the OSAA rankings.
Based on the latest standings and rankings, it appears that Philomath has a solid chance to earn at least the No. 8 seed and host a first-round playoff match. The opponent could be any number of teams, including Estacada or Madras (Tri-Valley), St. Helens (Cowapa), or Baker or La Grande (Greater Oregon).
“It’s out of our control,” Thomas said. “We did what we needed to do to finish the season and we won’t know anything until Tuesday.”
In Thursday’s Senior Night victory over Newport, the Warriors put together a consistent performance to earn the victory.
“We had some really good plays as far as defensively and some things on offense that we’ve been working on that they actually put into play tonight,” Thomas said. “So, that was good to see.”
Taking the court against an overmatched opponent can play tricks on the minds of the athletes. The Warriors beat Newport on the road in their first matchup in straight sets. Throw in the emotion of Senior Night and you never know what might happen.
“Senior Night is always a crapshoot and with five seniors, it’s either going to go really well or not go very well and take a while to get warmed up,” Thomas said. “But they made a decision earlier this week that they weren’t going to let Senior Night affect how they played tonight.”
From a player’s perspective, senior hitter Shaylee May said the team just needed to approach the Cubs as if they were one of the top teams in the league.
Philomath definitely came out of the gate in an impressive manner by scoring the match’s first 10 points. Senior Isabelle Muir was at the service line and the points piled up with May and senior Taylor Hudson finding success hitting the ball. Newport also had some unforced efforts to dig an early hole.
The Warriors came out ready to play.
“They definitely have superstitions and they have a routine,” Thomas said when asked if she’s the type of coach to give inspirational speeches before taking the floor. “They stick to it before every match and it’s working for them. So I let them be.”
Said May, “We hype ourselves up on our own.”
Philomath led 4-0 early in the second set before the Cubs rallied to take the lead. The Warriors trailed 13-11 before scoring six straight with May serving, a stretch that included an ace on the 17th point.
Newport landed on its feet, however, and regained the lead at 19-18. The Warriors remained composed and outscored the Cubs 8-3 the rest of the way. The final point of the second set came on a hit by junior Megan Ward.
“In the second set, we maybe played to a level that we shouldn’t have for a little while there,” Thomas said, “but we got it back together and came through.”
Philomath trailed by three points on three occasions early in the third set. The Warriors were down 7-6 at one point before going on a 6-1 run. Newport stayed within striking distance and pulled to within 13-12.
But the Warriors were too strong and had a nine-point scoring run with senior Avery Smith serving. Junior Nora Stanley had four kills during that stretch and Smith served for a couple of aces.
The match ended with strong serving by Hudson — the 24th point being an ace and the 25th occurring when Newport’s serve-receive faltered.
On the stat sheet, Stanley finished with 13 kills while May and Ward each had eight. Hudson contributed four stuff blocks. Smith had 25 assists and seven ace serves.
Seniors honored before the match included Hudson, May, Muir, Smith and Lucie Oster.
May, who appeared to have quite a contingent of family and friends at the match based on postmatch photos, said it’s sad in a way to have possibly played one last match in the home gymnasium.
“I’ve grown up on this court,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to play with any other girls. It’s been fun for sure.”
Philomath 3, Newport 0
Thursday, Oct. 23, at Philomath HS
| Newport (10-10, 3-6) | 14 | 21 | 13 |
| Philomath (14-6, 7-2) | 25 | 25 | 25 |