Top-ranked Marist Catholic is in the championship match of the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 4A Volleyball Championships for the third straight year.
For the first of those years, Marshfield won’t be on the other side of the net for that title match Saturday night at Marshfield High School.
Marist Catholic survived a tough challenge from Astoria in a marathon quarterfinal match before sweeping Cascade in the semifinals Friday night at Pirate Palace.
The Dalles, meanwhile, earned the right to face the Spartans by beating Henley in the other semifinal after topping defending champion Marshfield in the quarterfinals.
The Spartans and Riverhawks meet at 6:30 p.m. in the championship game Saturday.
Marist Catholic coach Shari Pimentel is seeking her fourth title and her school’s fifth. The Dalles is playing in its first championship match since 1994, when it lost to La Salle Prep. The Riverhawks won their only state title in 1989, beating Vale, and also lost the 1986 final to Philomath.
Pimental said she was relieved the Spartans won the semifinal match in three sets, a rarity for her team in recent state tournaments.
“We finally got a three-set match,” she said after the Spartans beat the Cougars 25-20, 25-15, 25-23.
Marist Catholic had a couple of breakdowns in the quarterfinal match, leading to a good team discussion before the semifinal.
“We talked about communication and how we treat each other,” she said, noting that Marist Catholic always preaches being a close family. “Our kids have worked hard to buy into that.
“I think we were talking, communicating, playing hard.”
It helps that the Spartans have a pair of phenomenal outside hitters, Lauren Rohman, who doubles as setter when she is in the back row, and Kimberly Spurlock.
“We played hard,” Cascade coach Cristina Williams said. “They have some amazing hitters. I thought our defense was really good. It just wasn’t our night.”
Rohman had 17 kills and 12 assists, while Spurlock had six kills and 15 digs, along with two aces.
Libero Kegan De Lee had 14 digs.
“Our offense is good, but our defense is great,” Pimentel said. “Our libero is ridiculous.
“She anchors our defense. She gets so many balls you think are going down.”
Emma Kirschenmann had nine kills and Hailey Abundiz and Zarai McCloud had seven each for Cascade. All three had attempts on the final point of the match that Marist Catholic dug up before Spurlock finished the match with a kill to an open spot in Cascade’s defense.
That was the closest of the three sets.
Cascade led first set 20-18 but Marist scored the last seven points, several on Cascade hitting errors and the final two on kills by Rohman.
The Spartans scored the first five points of the second set and led all the way, the last three points a kill by Adriana Lyons Rivera, a kill by Spurlock and an ace by De Lee.
But the third set was close all the way and tied several times, the last time on a kill by Kirschenmann that made it 23-all.
That had Cascade excited about possibly extending the match, but Marist Catholic ended it with a kill by Rohman and Spurlock’s final blast.
While Williams would have liked to be in the championship match, she was thrilled her squad will be getting a trophy for the fifth year in a row after beating Oregon West Conference sibling Philomath in the quarterfinals.
“That was a very emotional game for us, since they are our league rivals,” she said of the earlier match.
“But these five seniors, every year we’ve placed,” Williams said. “I’m very proud of them.”
Kirschenmann, Abundiz, McCloud, Amyah Miranda and Irene Rocha-Ibarra have been part of trophy teams all four years.
“How many players get to do that?” Williams said.
Rocha-Ibarra, the team’s setter, had 29 assists against Marist Catholic.
The Dalles d. Henley 25-13, 25-20, 25-23
Like the Spartans, The Dalles needed just three sets to advance to the championship match.
“We are very excited,” said The Dalles coach Teresa Morris. “I think they came in and they didn’t let up. We’re peaking at the right time.”
In its earlier win against Marshfield, The Dalles road the relentless attack of talented sophomore Jazlynn Morris-Holmes and timely contributions from others to beat the Pirates.
Against Henley, The Dalles had a more balanced attack. Morris-Holmes still had 14 kills, but the Riverhawks also got contributions on offense from Aspyn Rubio, Evelyn Rogers and Cleo Corbin, who also had six blocks.
“We tried to mix it up a little,” Morris said of her team’s attack.
The Dalles also had numerous aces after serving was an issue in the quarterfinal. That part of the team’s success surprised Henley coach Sierra Patzke.
“The Dalles played really well,” she said. “They were ready to go. We struggled, in part because of how they played. Our serve receive is good normally. They served well.”
Henley, which had earlier rallied to reach the semifinals with a five-set win over Pendleton, also had too many hitting errors and serving errors, Patzke said.
“We did some good things, but we gave them too many points.”
Henley started the match on fire, scoring the first five points, punctuated by a kill by Jenna Melsness. But The Dalles controlled the rest of the set, and the second set, too.
The Riverhawks appeared on the way to an easy win in the third set, too, leading 19-13. But the Hornets came back, with a pair of kills by Makayla Schroeder, additional kills by Lanie Hadley and Kahlia Cage and an ace by Abby DuBose. When Schroeder had a stuff block the set was tied at 23.
But Henley’s hopes quickly ended with a service error and a stuff block by Corbin on a hit by Schroeder.
The Hornets face Cascade at 1 p.m. in the third-place match.
The consolation semifinals start with Astoria and Philomath at 9 a.m., followed by Pendleton and Marshfield at 11 a.m. Those two winners meet at 3:15 p.m. in the fourth-place match.
Quarterfinals
Marist Catholic d. Astoria 25-12, 25-7, 25-27, 21-25, 15-10
In the first match of the day, Marist Catholic advanced through the quarterfinals with a thrilling five-set win over Astoria.
Pimental, who has coached the Spartans for 32 years, was not surprised by the tight match.
“We talked last night and this morning about how you are not going to beat teams 3-0 here,” she said. “Everybody is going to give you their best shot and everyone wants you to lose (because you are the favorite).”
After Marist Catholic took the first two sets by comfortable margins, rallying from an early deficit in the first and dominating the second, Astoria fought off a match point in the third set to extend the match.
Amelia Nemlowill had a kill off two Marist Catholic blockers for the clinching point for Astoria.
The Spartans rallied from a 7-0 deficit to twice tie the fourth set, the final time at 18-18. But Astoria sophomore Kyah Gohr had four kills in the rest of the set and teammate Sofia Nygaard had one to give Astoria a 23-21 lead. A bad Marist Catholic pass and a net violation by the Spartans ended the set.
Astoria led the final set 4-1 early before a 6-1 run by the Spartans that included two kills by Rohman and a kill and a stuff block by Spurlock.
The teams traded points until a kill by Keturah Jackson pulled the Fishermen within 10-9. But Marist Catholic pulled away with three kills by Rohman and Spurlock clinched the match with a final kill for the Spartans.
Pimentel said Rohman and Spurlock helped turn the tide in Marist Catholic’s favor in the final set.
They are among six juniors on the roster.
“The juniors are really good players,” she said. “They work hard and want to get better. And they are very coachable.”
Pimentel also gave credit to Astoria.
“They played well,” she said.
Marist Catholic had entered the tournament on a 21-match win streak after its only loss, to Westside Christian back on Aug. 30. The Spartans only had one match in the regular season go five sets, a Sky-Em League win over Marshfield in Eugene.
Astoria coach Eric Gohr said he was proud of his team’s effort, but that the Spartans just had a little too much.
Rohman had 22 kills, 15 assists and six stuff blocks for the Spartans — Marist Catholic had 19 stuff blocks in all. Spurlock had 13 kills, four aces, 18 digs and three blocks and Maggie Helfrich had six kills and three blocks.
Anna Edwards, the Spartans’ setter when Rohman is in the front row, had 23 assists and De Lee had 19 digs, six assists and great passing in serve receive.
Cascade d. Philomath, 25-19, 16-25, 25-23, 25-16: The Cougars reached the semifinals with a four-set win over familiar foe Philomath.
After the teams split the first two sets, the pivotal third set went Cascade’s way after Philomath nearly erased a 22-15 deficit. The Warriors got kills by Isabelle Muir and Shaylee May to start the comeback. After a kill by Cascade’s McCloud, Philomath won the best point of the match, which included several incredible diving saves by each team, on a well-placed tip by May. She had a more conventional powerful kill on the next point.
Another kill by McCloud put Cascade at set point, but Philomath scored three points in a row to come within 24-23, the latter two an ace by May and a stuff block by Taylor Hudson.
Cascade won the set on a kill by Abundiz.
Cascade denied Philomath a similar comeback in the fourth set and clinched the match on a kill by Abundiz.
The match featured two talented freshmen middle blockers who each made several big plays at the net Cascade’s Kade Lane and Philomath’s Alyssa Stanley.
Kirschenmann had 13 kills and McCloud seven for the Cougars in the win.
May had 15 kills and Nora Stanley 15 for the Warriors. Hudson had 10 kills and eight solo blocks and Megan Ward had nine kills.
“We had some good moments today against a strong Cascade team,” Philomath coach Whitney Thomas said. “We know it’s always going to be a good match when we play against them. I’m proud of my team for staying with it and learning from their errors.
“We’re ready to get after it again tomorrow and motivated to show everyone our best effort.”
Henley d. Pendleton 21-25, 22-25 25-19, 25-9, 15-9: The Hornets rallied to beat the Buckaroos in their quarterfinal.
Pendleton appeared in good shape when a kill by Braelyn Gunter ended the second set for a 2-0 lead, but Henley never gave up.
“My team is very resilient,” Patzke said. “There’s not a lot of quit in them.
“Volleyball is a game of runs. We talked about weathering the storm and staying steady. They did a good job with that.”
The Henley offense warmed up in the third set and the defense started digging up almost everything Pendleton hit. And when they weren’t digging things up, DuBose and Ryleigh McDaniel had stuff blocks as the Hornets scored six straight points for an 18-9 lead. Pendleton pulled within 23-19 on an ace by Finley Evans, but Henley finished off the set with a kill by Schroeder and a Pendleton hitting error.
Henley built on that momentum in the fourth set, taking an early 10-3 lead and stretching it on a series of kills by DuBose and one by setter Hailey Paulson. DuBose had a kill to the back corner to finish off the set, setting up the deciding fifth set.
That race to 15 points was tied at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, but Henley scored eight points in a row, including three kills by DuBose. When McDaniel stuffed an attempted kill by the Buckaroos, Henley was headed to the semifinals.
Pendleton had gotten a big boost the first two sets on the hitting of Gunter and Avery Brown and the work of setter Caitlin Cooley, but Henley’s defense limited Pendleton’s offense much of the final three sets.
“We came out today with amazing energy, but just didn’t sustain it,” said Pendleton coach Jodi Primus.
She said she was proud of how her team responded to an injury to outside hitter MJ Gomez last week right before the team’s playoff win to advance to the tournament.
“Braelyn did a good job trying to step up, but that’s a tough thing to ask at such a critical point of the season,” Primus said. “The team was devastated, but rallied together to put up a fight today.
“Henley put up a huge block today and played well.”
It was the first time all season Pendleton played five sets, which tested the team’s endurance, Primus said.
“I’m proud of my girls. We aren’t done yet and are looking forward to tomorrow.”
Brown had 16 kills for Pendleton and Sophie Nelson had seven. They each also had nine blocks. Colley had 31 assists and 12 digs and Evans had 16 digs.
The Dalles d. Marshfield, 32-30, 25-22, 25-22: In the last quarterfinal, No. 7 seed The Dalles knocked off the defending state champions, sweeping the No. 2 seed Pirates.
The Riverhawks won a dramatic first set marked by amazing plays and mind-boggling errors
The teams traded points through much of the set, with Marshfield countering a healthy dose of kills by Morris-Holmes with kills by Caroline Knutson and blocks by McKenzie Fitzgerald-Thornton. The Dalles led 22-19 when the Pirates surged with a block by Fitzgerald-Thornton and a kill by Knutson.
Morris-Holmes gave The Dalles the first of several set points with a kill, but Knutson followed with a kill that rolled along the net and dropped on the Riverhawks’ side.
The teams then traded service errors — The Dalles had three of them on set point and Marshfield three with the score tied — and The Dalles missed other chances to close the set when Fitzgerald-Thornton had a pair of kills and Morris-Holmes had a foot on the 10-foot line when she jumped for a back-row attack that would have given the Riverhawks the win.
Finally, at 31-30, Morris-Holmes had a smash the Pirates couldn’t handle to secure the set.
The second set appeared headed for a similarly tight finish when Fitzgerald-Thornton had a kill, followed by an ace from teammate Kendall Johnson, to tie the score at 22.
But the Riverhawks scored three straight points, with a Marshfield service error followed by kills by Morris-Holmes and Corbin on set point.
The Riverhawks had fallen behind early in the set, in part because of five more service errors, but rallied to catch up.
Marshfield appeared prime to extend the match in the third set when Thornton-Fitzgerald had a kill and then a stuff block for a 22-17 lead. But the Pirates didn’t score again.
Morris-Holmes had a kill to give the serve to teammate May. What followed were a hitting error by the Pirates, an ace off the net, a kill by Corbin, a miscommunication by the Pirates that led to a point, another kill by Corbin and two aces by May — one that hit the floor between two Pirates and one that rolled along the net and dropped out of the reach of Marshfield’s defenders, sparking a big celebration by the Riverhawks.
“That was probably our biggest game (all season),” Morris said in the aftermath of the quarterfinal win. “They are the defending champs and on their home floor. We knew it was going to be a fight.”
The Dalles shined in that spotlight.
“They wanted everybody to know we can play volleyball in our little (Columbia River) gorge area,” Morris said.
Marshfield coach Tammie Montiel gave credit to the Riverhawks.
“We didn’t play poorly,” she said. “We didn’t play with a lot of fire. We played well in spurts. The Dalles did a good job of moving on from their mistakes.”
Like the other quarterfinal losers, the Pirates faced the tough challenge of trying to rebound with a win Saturday morning to secure a trophy in the consolation bracket.
“We rebound and reset and go back at it a little earlier tomorrow,” Montiel said.
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