TOLEDO — They don’t ask how, they ask how many. And the Toledo volleyball team will be happy about that after escaping an upset-minded Onalaska squad with a five-set win to wrap up the regular season, 25-16, 19-25, 25-22, 13-25, 15-13.
“There was a lot in that one,” Toledo coach Kelli Larson said. “Being able to read is something we’re struggling with at the moment, and then continuing to confidently swing throughout the match.”
For much of the match, it was the Loggers (8-9, 3-6 C2BL) doing the confident swinging, with a roster younger than most JV teams in the area.
But the Riverhawks (8-8, 5-4 C2BL), who watched their wheels fall off in an ugly fourth set and trailed as late as 10-7 in the fifth, found what they needed to come back.
Whitney Olson tied things up at 10-10 on an ace, and Jordynne Hensley tied it back up at 12-12 on a kill. On the very next point, Ellie Fallon — Toledo’s own eighth grade outside hitter — got in front of Onalaska star freshman Emalie Jacoby and stuffed her attack to give the hosts a 13-12 lead.
Jacoby — who finished with a match-high 23 kills — came right back to tie things at 13-13, but Onalaska went into the net to put the Riverhawks at match point, and Fallon found one last swing to end it.
“Ellie of course has outstanding kills all the time,” Larson said.
Fallon had 12 kills and 24 digs to lead the Riverhawks, while Henlsey and Stefa Arceo-Hansen both had eight, and Irys DeAguero had five on .364 hitting.
But after the first set, the Toledo offense slowed way down, and had huge trouble finishing points.
“You can’t win if you’re bumping the ball over or you’re setting the ball over,” Larson said. “You have to be aggressive, and you have to mix your shots up. That’s what I hope they can get to understand.”
Whitney Olson dished out 38 assists and added 21 digs, and libero Lyndzie Filla had 24 digs, while DeAguero also posted two blocks at the net. Trying to move things around, Larson nearly ran out of substitutes late, working in sophomore Emily Feigenbaum and eighth grader Abby Umbriaco in late in the match to fill in.
For Onalasa, Jacoby posted yet another triple-double, bolstering her kills with 19 assists, 21 digs, four aces and two blocks.
Next to her, Sommer Zurinskas had 12 kills and three blocks, and Leah Hamilton added seven kills. Braelyn Babb dished up 17 assists, Capri McGraw had four aces and 16 digs.
Despite the loss, it was an encouraging performance to the Loggers, who for much of the night put out a lineup entirely of eighth graders and freshmen, only one of which — Jacoby, who transferred west from Davenport — had any significant volleyball experience coming into the fall.
“When we started in the summer after I got hired … I’m not kidding, we did not know how to rotate,” Onalaska coach Susan Gordon said. “It was challenging. They’ve come from zero knowledge to this. They’re sponges; they want to learn, they want to get better.”
The result seals Toledo into the No. 5 spot in the Central 2B League standings, while Onalaska finishes the regular season at No. 7, and earns the league’s final spot in the district tournament.
The Riverhawks will face North Beach — the Pacific 2B League No. 4 — at Adna at 11:30 on Saturday in the first round of the district tournament, with a win sending them to face the No. 1 Pirates later. The Loggers will take C2BL No. 3 Rainier at 11:30 a.m. in Raymond, trying to spring an upset that would send them to an afternoon matchup against P2BL No. 2 Forks.
