The Philomath High boys volleyball team snapped a four-match losing streak Thursday night with a 25-16, 25-13, 25-21 sweep of visiting Toledo.
The Warriors (3-4 overall, 2-4 Special District 3) used strong serving to build comfortable leads in the first and third sets, allowing coach Helen Bennett to work the entire roster into the match against the winless Boomers (0-6, 0-6), who have yet to take a set in their program’s first season..
“Toledo definitely has the players to learn and improve quickly,” Bennett said. “So this was a match of opportunity — not just for us to play well, at our level and with consistency for all three sets — but also an opportunity for nonstarters to get some valuable playing time.”
Senior Tito Martinez led the service attack with 10 aces on 22 serves without an error. Senior Mayson Wallace and sophomore Nico Mayo Carrasco each added six aces.
“Our serving built us big leads in sets 1 and 3, so I was able to sub in various players,” Bennett said. “The serving of Tito, Mayson and Nico was especially strong.”
At the net, Wallace and junior Kayden Boynton each finished with six kills.
“All players on the roster got an opportunity to play tonight,” Bennett said. “We actually played four sets — an ask by the Toledo coach, who just wanted to get more playing time for all the boys. It was a great idea.”
Philomath returns to action at 11:30 a.m. Saturday when it hosts Marshfield.
Philomath 3, Toledo 0
Thursday, April 16, at Philomath HS
Team 1 2 3 Toledo (0-6, 0-6) 16 13 21 Philomath (3-4, 2-4) 25 25 25