ONALASKA — For the first time in Onalaska volleyball head coach Susan Gordon’s tenure, which began in 2023, the Loggers are 3-0 to start Central 2B League play.
Her team clinched the feat with a 3-1 victory over previously unbeaten Toutle Lake Thursday night. The Loggers doused their coach with water in the locker room after the win, which came nine days after they lost to the Ducks in Toutle in four sets in a non-league contest.
As of Thursday night, Onalaska is in first place and is one of two teams to remain unbeaten in league play, along with Mossyrock. Juniors Emalie Jacoby and Braelyn Babb were unstoppable, as Jacoby put up 32 kills, nine aces and 28 digs. Babb dished out an astounding 39 assists, most of which were perfectly tossed up to Jacoby.
“Everything that we have built for the past three years with these girls is solid right now. It’s fun watching them compete and excel the way that we as coaches knew they could eventually do,” Gordon said.
The night didn’t start smoothly for Jacoby. She timed her jumps for the buttery passes by Babb, but they often clashed into the net or out of bounds in the first set. But midway through the frame, Jacoby found her rhythm, and the Ducks had no answer. Onalaska and Toutle Lake sat tied at 13 halfway through the first before the Loggers blitzed the Ducks with a 12-3 run that included Jacoby’s four kills, one block and one ace.
At one point in the second set, Jacoby rattled off four straight aces; the Ducks called a timeout after the first two and then looked appalled when they couldn’t return two more. Their confusion lingered as the Loggers moved Jacoby around the floor, causing the defense to hover to her side before the likes of Sommer Hammer, Faith Hammer and Renzy Marshall punished them.
“She’s had to challenge herself more because people watch film and her tendencies. Now we have to take away her tendencies and go other places with it,” Gordon said of Jacoby. “That’s been her growth. People watch and study and they think she’s all we got, so they focus everything on her.”
The game doesn’t go without the first pass, according to Babb, and as the Loggers grow more comfortable with and confident in one another, they become more dangerous after that first pass. In addition, Jacoby becomes just as dangerous without receiving the ball as when she does, and her teammates have shown that they can take the reins when the plan is to use the star outside hitter as a decoy.
“Having everyone else contribute and not just one girl is amazing because knowing that I don’t have just one girl is nice,” Babb said. “I have confidence in all of my teammates.”
Toutle Lake led for nearly the entire third set en route to a 25-22 win to halt the sweep, but the Loggers took care of business in the fourth 25-17 to wrap up the victory. Babb helped finish off the Ducks in a variety of ways, like dumping the ball over the net, serving with precision, and even blocking the ball from the front row. The Hammers were also a lethal duo for the Ducks to handle with four blocks apiece and Sommer tallying eight kills.
Onalaska (6-3, 3-0 C2BL) is learning that it can win matches even when it isn’t playing at its best, which is a sign of growth compared to the previous two seasons. The Loggers missed 20 serves against Toledo Tuesday night but still managed to hand the Riverhawks their first loss of the season in five sets.
The next hurdle for the Loggers: maintain their home energy on the road. Three of their final five regular season games are on the road, including next at Winlock on Oct. 13 and a huge matchup at Mossyrock on Oct. 21.
“I’ve told them that state and districts are not in this gym. We go to Toledo and fumble around and go through the motions. We missed 20 serves and we still beat them,” Gordon said. “You can’t go into games and do that. We have to be able to perform at our level no matter where we’re at.”
