COOS BAY — Top-ranked Marist Catholic survived a close call in the quarterfinals at the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 4A state volleyball championships Friday, needing five sets to beat Astoria and avoid a huge upset at Marshfield High School.
By Saturday night, there was no doubt the Spartans deserved their ranking, as they dominated The Dalles for their second state title in three years.
“I’m just so happy,” junior Lauren Rohman said following the Spartans’ 25-15, 25-10, 25-20 win over the Riverhawks. “I’m so proud of our team.”
Following the close call with Astoria, the Spartans had a long talk about their philosophy before sweeping Cascade in the semifinals.
“We came together,” Rohman said. “We remembered we are doing it for each other, not for ourselves.”
The team’s motto is “No fear, just family.”
“We executed that tonight,” Rohman said.
The Spartans overwhelmed the Riverhawks with a strong offensive attack led by Rohman and fellow junior Kimberly Spurlock and a defense anchored by libero Kegan D Lee.
Rohman set the tone with a kill on the opening point of the night and had three aces in four points early in the first set as the Spartans went up 11-4.
Spurlock, meanwhile, was finding openings in the defense of The Dalles — she led Marist Catholic’s offense with 13 kills on the night.
The Dalles star Jazlynn Morris-Holmes had a number of powerful kills, but the Spartans always quickly countered to regain momentum.
“That was so fun,” Spurlock said. “I felt we played really well. We talked to each other and went after every ball and had good placement (with our hits).”
Morris-Holmes had five kills in the opening set, but the Riverhawks were never able to dent the lead much.
The second set was never close as Marist Catholic quickly built a 7-1 lead behind Spurlock’s hitting and a few errors by the Riverhawks.
Taylor Tuia gave The Dalles a boost with a couple of aces, but the team’s offense was off most of the night.
“We struggled in serve receive,” The Dalles coach Teresa Morris said. “That makes it really tough.”
Marist Catholic had a lot to do with that.
“Our kids executed so well with our serving,” said Shari Pimental, who won her fourth title in a coaching career that has spanned more than three decades with the Spartans.
Marist Catholic did pretty much everything else well, too.
“It was great,” Pimentel said.
The offense of Spurlock and Rohman, who had seven kills, was supplemented by a big night from Adriana Lyons Rivera, who had several timely kills.
“She does it at the exact moment we need,” Pimentel said.
Rohman also had five aces and 11 assists — she is setter when she is in the back row — and Anna Edwards had 13 assists.
Then there was the defense.
“We talked before the match that No. 6 (Morris-Holmes) is going to get some points, you just have to withstand and move onto the next play,” Pimentel said. “Our blockers did well, tipping a lot of balls, and we dug incredibly.”
The Dalles did have success in the third set. Morris-Holmes had a couple of early kills and the two teams were even through eight points before a big run by the Spartans as they built up a 19-12 lead.
The Riverhawks tried to battle back. Holmes had a few kills, Aspyn Rubio added one and Evelyn Rogers had a stuff block. But Spurlock had a pair of kills to give Marist Catholic a 23-17 lead.
Homes had three straight kills in a last-gasp effort to rally, but Spurlock had a kill off the net and the Spartans put away a bad pass to finish the match and spark a big celebration.
“It feels like a million bucks,” said D Lee, a senior who was a big part of the 2023 championship team along with Rohman and Spurlock. Marist Catholic lost in the final last year.
“Our whole team has been working hard,” D Lee said. “It’s been our goal since August.”
The Spartans also benefitted from a tough preseason with really good matchups, Pimentel said. The team’s lone loss came in August to Westside Christian, which finished second in the 3A tournament across town in North Bend on Saturday night.
“Coming here and beating Marshfield at home was big, too,” Pimentel said. “We hadn’t done that in a lot of years.
“We were improving every day. Our kids bought into it.”
It helps that Marist Catholic had often gone far into the tournament, something The Dalles hadn’t done.
“It’s a big stage for our girls who have never been here,” Morris said.
“We made it this far. Now we know what it’s like. Hopefully we are back next year.”
The Riverhawks had played great Friday in a sweep over defending champion and host Marshfield and a sweep of Henley in the semifinals.
The championship match didn’t go as the team hoped.
“It could have been better,” Morris-Holmes said. “We did what we could. They are a good team.”
Still, the team had a lot to be proud of.
Last year, The Dalles broke a long trophy drought by finishing fourth.
“Our goal was to get better than last year,” Morris-Holmes said.
The Riverhawks certainly did that, playing in the championship match.
“It feels like a dream,” senior Cleo Corbin said.
“We are super proud of them,” added Morris. “Yesterday they played so super well. We got on this floor. Now we know what it’s like.”
THIRD PLACE
Henley bounced back from its loss to The Dalles in the semifinals with a 26-24, 16-25, 26-24, 23-25, 15-12 win, outlasting Cascade.
“The girls fought hard and it was close games,” said Cascade coach Cristina Williams.
The Hornets also won a five-set match in the quarterfinals over Pendleton and took the third-place trophy back to the Klamath Basin.
The Cougars got 11 kills each from Emma Kirchenmann and Hailey Abundiz and had a big night from setter Irene Rocha-Ibarra, who had seven kills, five aces and 41 assists.
FOURTH PLACE
Marshfield rebounded from its quarterfinal loss to The Dalles with two wins Saturday, including beating Philomath 23-25, 28-26, 28-26, 25-20 in the trophy match.
The Pirates had played in the past three title matches, winning two.
Earlier the Pirates had topped Pendleton 25-11, 25-20, 15-25, 20-25, 25-10 and Philomath swept Astoria 25-16, 25-19, 25-15.
“I am so proud of how the girls fought back today after the tough loss yesterday,” Marshfield coach Tammie Montiel said. “They responded well and were bound and determined to end the season with two wins. They showed some grit when they could have decided to fold.
“A trophy at the tourney four straight years is a huge accomplishment and something for our younger athletes to strive to extend the streak.”
Chloe Runn had 16 kills, Caroline Knutson 13 and Mackenzie Fitzgerald-Thornton nine for the Pirates in the win over Philomath. Runn and Knutson also combined for 46 digs and libero Anna Lemmons had 18.
ALL TOURNAMENT AWARDS
First Team
Kimberly Spurlock, jr, Marist Catholic
Lauren Rohman, jr, Marist Catholic
Nora Stanley, jr, Philomath
Kyah Gohr, soph, Astoria
Irena Rocha-Ibarra, sr, Cascade
Jazlynn Morris-Holmes, soph, The Dalles (Unanimous)
Second Team
Avery Brown, sr, Pendleton
Makayla Schroeder, soph, Henley
Finley Evans, jr, Pendleton
Carolina Knutson, soph, Marshfield
Kegan De Lee, sr, Marist Catholic
Cleo Corbin, sr, The Dalles
Sportsmanship: Cascade
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