Thursday's Prep Volleyball: Vikings Break Out the Brooms in Onalaska

Posted

ONALASKA — Try as they might, the Loggers were simply unable to keep pace with the heavy hitting Vikings here on Thursday night. Mossyrock used a liberal rotation to keep their legs, and power hitting arms, fresh on their way to a sweep with scores of 25-13, 25-14, and 25-15 in their non-league volleyball rivalry affair.

In each set there were moments where it seemed like Onalaska was going to be able to hang tough, or even run away with things. In the second set in particular, the Loggers jumped out to an 8-0 lead thanks to the on-point serving of Eryn Duryea. The Vikings were able to find their bearings from that point, however, tying the game up at 12-12 before running away with an 11-point victory.

“We’ve had a couple of starts like this where it’s kind of slow and we’re learning not to just react and just do everything that you know how to do,” said Mossyrock coach Alex Nelson. “I’m a little bit panicky on the sideline when we have such slow starts but they do a good job of not panicking and going back to their fundamentals and just chipping away and staying positive. But we don’t want those slow starts. That's something we’ve got to work on.”

Andee Nelson turned in 13 kills for the Vikings in the win while Payton Torrey amassed eight kills, and four aces on 12-of-13 serving. Faith Mulligan added five kills and 14 digs while Megan Houghtelling dished 24 assists while serving 15-of-16 with four aces. Hailey Brooks chipped in three blocks in the win.

“I’ve got a lot of girls who work hard so I’ve got to find a way to get them in when I can,” noted Nelson. “We ran a different lineup out there every set. That’s makes it a little bit hard to keep it consistent when you’re throwing in a new lineup every time but it’s a tribute to them that they were able to pull it out.”

Duryea was a steadying force for Onalaska with nine digs, three kills, and one block, as well as a 93 percent mark from the service stripe. Sophia Leal added nine digs, one assist and 100 percent serving while Kayla Osborne dished seven assists and Dakotah Fuller notched two kills and three blocks.

“When we would go on a run those were our strongest rotations and when they would go on a run those were our weakest so those were the areas that we needed to work on,” said Onalaska coach Terri Dalsted. “We also talked about covering and laying out. Mossyrock did a great job of just going after every single ball. If there was a ball on the floor there was a person on the floor. So we talked about making that a part of the culture on our team.”

Freshman Morgan Hamilton added five kills and one block for the Loggers. Her play has caught the eye of her own coach as well as those across the net in the early going.

“Against MWP was our first game and we were away from home so I think all the jitters were out so she had an amazing game,” said Dalsted. “She’s used to middle school where everyone just runs around and does everything so she’s learning how to play her spot. Once she gets that down, she’s going to be pretty unstoppable.”

Onalaska (2-1) will play at Toutle Lake on Monday. Mossyrock (2-0) will host Kalama on Tuesday.

Warriors Make it a Clean Sweep Over Cruisers

EATONVILLE — Rocheter made quick work of the Cruisers here on Thursday using set scores of 25-13, 25-22, and 25-9 to secure a sweep in non-league volleyball action.

“Emma Green came on strong as a right-side hitter. She came up with six kills and 11 digs and just came out of nowhere,” said Rochester coach Wendy Hawes. “She’s never been in the newspaper. Never made any of our stats but tonight. She’s a very aggressive player. She had the hot hand and was getting a lot balls.”

Emily Morris added 10 kills and six aces for the Warriors including a run of seven points in the first set that helped to set the tone for the rest of the match. Bethany Hawes dished 19 assists and tallied five digs in the win.

Coach Hawes was especially pleased with the way her team maintained their focus throughout the match, including a 16-point win in the final set.

“We had some big blocks. Kortney Kerbaugh had some big blocks for us and just as a whole we really clicked,” noted Hawes. “Overall we just looked so much better as a team.”

Rochester (2-1) is at the Centerville Tournament in Centralia on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. against Toledo.

T-Wolves Can’t Find Weak Spot on Mules

RANDLE — Morton-White Pass couldn’t find a rhythm here on Thursday as they fell in four sets here to Wahkiakum in a non-league volleyball contest.

The Mules took the first set 25-12 before the home team rebounded for a 25-16 victory in the second set. It was all Wahkiakum from there, though, as the Mules closed out the match with scores of 25-14 and 25-19.

“We just weren’t playing consistently. We just needed longer periods of more consistent volleyball,” said MWP coach Tammy Kelly, who attributed much of her team’s woes to issues with their serve-receive.

Shaylee Peters turned in five kills and four aces for MWP and Katie Salguero racked up eight kills and five blocks. Chloe Kelly added 17 kills for the home team.

Coach Kelly gave a Timberwolves’ share of the credit to the energy of the Mules mob.

“They play really well. They’re really loud when they come in the gym. It’s pretty intense when they start playing,” explained Kelly. “They have a pretty good middle and I think they’ll wind up placing pretty high in our league. She’s a very good coach.”



Morton-White Pass (0-2) will play at Montesano on Monday.

Toledo Takes Air Out of Cardinals

TOLEDO — Winlock wasn’t able to get anything going here on Thursday as Toledo swept their non-league volleyball affair with set scores of 25-13, 25-12, and 25-17.

“Gracie Madill did a great job of passing from the back row tonight,” said Toledo coach Candace Maier.

Sandy and Stacie Spahr combined for 11 kills to lead Toledo while Rylie Pliler added four kills and nine aces.

“They did a good job. We played really well as a team tonight. Most of the kids got kills and they did a good job on the court of letting the entire team contribute,” added Maier. “Our setters did a good job. Brynn WIlliams had 12 assists and Emma had eight assists. They did a great job of distributing the ball.”

Toledo (3-0) will play in the Centerville Tournament at Centralia High School on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.

Tigers Drop Adna in Four

NAPAVINE — The Tigers took care of business on their home court here Thursday with a four set win over Adna in a non-league volleyball matchup.

Napavine won the first set 25-15, before allowing Adna to capture a 25-23 win in the second set. The Tigers were then able to bounce back with wins of 25-22 and 25-18 to claim the match victory.

“The first set the girls came out real focused and had high energy. After that we moved over to the second set and we were making a lot of self-inflicted errors. We missed four serves. We couldn’t get the ball to a hitter. So we really struggled,” said Napavine coach Monica Dailey.

Jordan Wilson, Riley Beeson, and Skyla Ettner all helped to steady the Tigers attack with perfect nights at the service stripe. Wilson’s effort included five aces while Beeson turned in six aces and seven assists. Ettner notched five aces, including four straight to end the fourth and final set.

“We had some really strong serving in that match that helped us finish strong,” said Dailey, noting that her team trailed early in the fourth set.

Hailey Murray added 8 kills for Napavine and Vannie Fagerness posted a dozen digs.

Dailey noted that Adna was also potent in the serve game on the night.

“Their servers tonight were really strong. They caught us unaware quite a bit,” said Dailey. “I feel like we are a fairly strong team in our serve-receive but they were still able to place the ball on us very efficiently tonight.”

Napavine (3-0) will play at Wahkiakum on Tuesday.

Trojans Torched by Comets

NASELLE — Pe Ell spoiled a scenic drive with a non-league volleyball loss to the Comets in straight sets here on Thursday. Naselle was able to turn the Trojans away with scores of 25-16, 25-17 and 25-16.

“Taylor Briggs did great serving. She served 100 percent for us today,” said Pe Ell coach Karie Cleveland. “Chrysten Smith led the team with five kills and Presley Peterson did some outstanding passing and had some digs for us as well.”

Cleveland blamed the disappointing result on an unfortunate mixture of influences.

“They are just a good all-around team and put together and we had a whole lot of errors and never did seem to put it together,” said Cleveland. “It was a pretty tough day for us.”

Pe Ell (1-2) will host Winlock next Wednesday at home.