By TIM NOVOTNY/for OSAAtoday
NORTH BEND— Like two juggernauts on a collision course with destiny, No. 1 seed Valley Catholic and No. 2 seed Westside Christian hit the ground running on Friday at North Bend High School in the 2025 OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 3A volleyball state championship.
And they ran over anyone in their way.
The two teams from the Lewis & Clark League will now face-off for the fourth time this season, but this one comes with some big-time hardware — a state championship trophy.
The Valiants of Valley Catholic punched their ticket first, with a three-set victory over the No. 4 seed Pirates of Dayton, 25-16, 25-22, 25-14.
These two teams had seen their seasons come full circle, after kicking off the campaign back in August at Valley Catholic. That match also ended in 3-0 victory for the Valiants, but that is where the similarities end as both coaches noted after the game. Each team had come to this tournament an improved and sharper version over their August entries.
It looked like old times at the start, however, as the Valiants jumped out to an 8-2 start in set one. But Dayton fought back and moments later back-to-back aces by Maddie Miguez trimmed the lead to 11-10.
In a hotly contested first set, the teams would counter points back and forth until the Valiants got some big hits from Hadley Entizne to create some breathing room and eventually put away the Pirates.
Set two was hard fought from the start. Five service errors hurt the Valiants along the way and kept the Pirates’ hopes alive. That was something that didn’t go unnoticed by Valley Catholic head coach Becky Kemper after the game.
“We just had to stick with our good ball control and focus on good serving,” Kemper said. “In the set that was the closest it was our serving that broke down, but I loved the fact that even though that second set was not our best set they battled.”
And they had to, because Dayton kept coming. Down 17-15, the Pirates got a kill from middle blocker Kalysta Summerlin, a big hit to add another point from outside hitter Caterina Cicioni, and after the following ace from outside hitter Gabby Chupp the Valiants found themselves in the unusual position of trailing their opponent.
Entizne stopped the rally with a kill (one of her nine for the match) that was soon followed by a big block from Amiah Dodrill to push the lead up to 20-18 for Valley Catholic. But another service error opened the door for the Pirates and Summerlin followed with an ace to get the lead trimmed back to 22-21.
Maeve Albert sealed things in set two for the Valiants with a nifty drop shot to cap the set.
Set three was very reminiscent of the first set, with the teams staying in close contact for a while before the Valiants were finally able to shed the competitive Pirates for the straight-set victory.
Dayton coach Samantha Alexander channeled a little of the philosophy of the Dude from “The Big Lebowski” after the match.
“It’s a bummer. We had hoped to at least take a set from them. We played them at the beginning of the season and absolutely got crushed. So, for us to play the way we played today it says a lot about our growth over the season,” Alexander said. “The girls played really hard. Valley Catholic is a great team. That’s obvious. So, for our girls to come out and compete with them and keep pushing every set I’m really proud of them.”
For Valiants coach Kemper a quick look at the stat sheet told the story of team that was extremely well-rounded.
“Jaya McGregor, our setter, was doing a great job. She probably got just as many kills as some of my best hitters (she ended with five). Maeve (Albert) our middle blocker got some great kills (finishing with 16 kills). They knew the ball was going to her but between her hitting and her tipping she executed some really good offense. Tristan Alvarado on defense had some really key digs. All three of my DS’s and my libero all did a great job as well.”
She even noticed that her skilled players were showing off some newer ones in the semifinals. Valley Catholic had five aces on the night, two belonged to Albert.
“She doesn’t usually get aces,” Kemper said.
A comforting thought from a team that is already pretty well-rounded going into the title game.
No. 2 Westside Christian d. No. 6 Cascade Christian, 25-10, 25-15, 25-20
It may be cliché to say the Eagles of Westside Christian came out flying in their semifinal match against Cascade Christian, but it is also true. They soared, if you will, to a 6-1 lead before some folks had got their popcorn. Prompting a quick timeout from head coach Rob Klecker.
He got some response but not enough of what was needed, as the Eagles used a multi-faceted attack to dismantle the Challengers in the first set.
The second set started with a point off a Hadley Wilcox block for Cascade Christian, but the next four points went to Westside.
Westside Christian coach Kristina Thom said after the game she was impressed with everyone on the floor and how they stuck to the game plan from the start.
“They executed a plan today. We had different plans for each opponent, and they stuck with it, trusted it and executed it.”
The Challengers tried to scrape back into the game in set two. They found a spark in defensive specialist Addyson Horn who came up with three aces in four serves to cut the deficit to 13-10 and force an Eagles timeout.
But there was always someone there to step up for Westside Christian offensively and shut down the lanes defensively.
“If I’m being brutally honest, I wasn’t super happy with just our effort and intensity early. It seemed like finally in game three we finally figured that out and brought it a little bit more,” said Klecker. “But you know Westside makes it so hard for you to find holes in their defense to put the ball on the ground. They’re so incredibly efficient in the way that they play. They made life very difficult for us, to find a rhythm and get things going.”
The Eagles pulled away in the second set to a 25-15 win thanks to some timely digs from birthday girl libero Louise Steyn, multiple assists from setter Ella Perry and a huge effort from Brooklyn Postma.
The third set did bring more intensity from Cascade Christian, but in the end no change in the outcome as Westside Christian punched their ticket to the championship match on Saturday night. Certainly, their five-set battle with Burns in the quarterfinals took something of a toll on them but Klecker said the Challengers can’t afford to look back at this point.
“After the match we talked about what do you want tomorrow to look like. What do you want to remember? Do you want to remember this one? I think we need to let it go and just start looking forward and not look behind us anymore.”
As for Thom, she has been looking ahead to this match all season. Another rematch with a friend and rival. And making history in the school’s first trip to a volleyball state title game in only its second trip to state.
“Number one, (Valley Catholic coach Becky Kemper) and I are friends. I admire her so much and we were hoping we would see each other in the finals. We’re from the same league and there is just a lot of pride that our league has the two teams in the Finals. So, I think we’re just going to be excited for the highest level of volleyball, number one, number two is we have each beat each other this season. It’s hopefully going to be an awesome match-up. We’ll enjoy this for a moment and then we will get ourselves ready with a game plan and see what we can do Saturday night.”
Fans can’t wait. This one has been a season in the making.
In the Quarterfinals:
Three of four quarterfinal matches on day one of the 3A OSAA State Volleyball tournament were displays of ruthless efficiency by the top two seeds, and a straight set upset by the five seed.
Valley Catholic beat No. 9 seed Catlin Gabel 25-12, 25-16, 25-15; Westside Christian topped No. 10 Salem Academy 25-13, 25-17, 25-18; and Dayton beat No. 4 seed Sisters 25-18, 25-22, 25-21.
All the drama was saved for the third match, but the gutty battle between No. 3 Burns and No. 6 Cascade Christian was worth the price of admission, with the Challengers outlasting the Hilanders 15-25, 25-16, 30-28, 23-25, 15-11.
Top-seeded Valley Catholic got the morning going by avenging one of their four losses on the season, a five-set grinder against Catlin Gabel back on October 16. This time around the defending champion Valiants never let the Eagles get off the ground.
Dayton, also with four regular season losses, had a little tougher challenge with the upper seeded Sisters Outlaws. Sisters pushed the Pirates all the way despite falling in straight sets.
Those matches set the stage for what turned out to be the main event of the quarterfinal round, the battle between Cascade Christian and Burns.
After each team threw a haymaker in the first two sets, they entered the third tied at one and something special started showing as the heart of both teams showed no give.
With Rylan Hunter stacking up assists like Jenga for the Challengers, Cascade Christian went overtime to eke out a 30-28 third set victory. Hunter finished with 44 assists overall for the match.
The back and forth continued on into the fourth set, with a Kyla Kleinsasser kill keeping Cascade Christian close at 23-21. But Amaya Ballard immediately answered back with a kill of her own for Burns to build back a 3-point cushion. They had to fight on, however, because Cascade Christian just kept coming back. Kleinsasser had another kill and followed with a point off serve, and it was 24-23. The late rally fell short on a service error and the match was all tied at two sets each. Notice had been served, however, that these Challengers were going to be a challenge indeed.
Cascade Christian steamrolled into the decisive fifth set, jumping out to a 6-0 lead. After a Burns timeout, sophomore Megan Weil helped lead a Hilander resurgence along the net as the lead would get trimmed to 12-8. An ace by Jocelyn Graham trimmed the lead further, to 14-11, but it was not enough in the end as the next point belonged to the Challengers who rode 15 kills from Wilcox and 14 from Avery Hunter to the five-set win.
Kleker was asked about the big play up front, but said it started from the defense at the back.
“We blocked well, but the defense behind the block really set the tone from the start,” he said.
Westside Christian, which has only lost two matches all year, both against Valley Catholic, took on a game Salem Academy squad to cap-off the quarterfinal round. Blitzing out to 25-13 and 25-17 wins in the first two sets Westside Christian was in the driver’s seat, but Salem Academy showed grit in the third set. They matched the Eagles point for point as long as they could. Tied at 11, Westside Christian turned things up a notch to finally put away the Crusaders with a 14-7 the rest of the set to complete the sweep.
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