Burns celebrates a match-clinching ace by bailey temple (in white) in its quarterfinal victory Friday (John Gunther photo)

BY RICK OSBORN

COOS BAY – The top-ranked Burns volleyball team will face off for the third time this season with No. 2 Dayton in the OSAA/On-Point Community Credit Union 3A state championship match on Saturday at the Marshfield High School Pirate Palace.

The two teams have seen each other twice already during tournaments this season. Dayton got the best of the Hilanders in the first meeting, but Burns was able to exact revenge in their second meeting with the Pirates in October. The two teams meet one final time at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, playing for all the marbles.

Another wrinkle in the matchup is Burns head coach Courtney Toney will be attempting to win her second state championship. She won one with Burns 20 years ago as a player. This year, she will be looking to guide a new generation of Hilanders to the promised land in what should be a brutal battle between two explosive frontlines and quick defensive units.

Burns slips by Sisters

In the first of the two semifinal matches on Friday night, Burns rallied to close a 2-1 gap in its match with Sisters, prevailing 25-16, 17-25, 23-25, 25-19, 15-5 in a hard-fought victory.

After a reasonably tight opening between the two evenly matched squads, Burns began pulling away in the first set with a dominant stretch of play from its front line. Sophomore outside hitter Baileigh Nisbet and junior counterpart Megan Weil put together a series of scores that included one ace by each and several kills between the two to put the Hilanders up 22-13.

After that reasonably dominant performance by Burns, Sisters crept back into the picture over the next two sets to knock Burns on its heels. An ace by Maici Cotner put the Outlaws up 23-15, as Sisters came out in the middle two rounds swinging hard. Helene Voigt finished off the second set with a hard kill on the right-hand side to tie the match up.

“After the first set we got it together and were much better,” Sisters coach Jason Monaghan said. “It was tough for us to lose this one but we’ll be back tomorrow in the third-place game. In the fifth set, we just ran out of gas.”

Sisters began seizing the momentum early in the third set using back-to-back ace serves by Jessica Stahn to take a 3-2 lead. After teetering back and forth and trading leads throughout the match, Cotner put Sisters ahead for good in that set at 23-22 and senior middle blocker Brooke Lindsay capped the set with a big block at the net to ice the 2-1 advantage.

“When they were attacking, they were winning and when we were attacking, we were winning,” Toney said. “We got good momentum toward the end. We really came together as a team. Adversity makes you stronger, and after that, we’re really strong.”

Burns showed in the fourth and fifth sets why they’ve reached the tournament ranked No. 1, showing great composure and going on the attack to retake the momentum. A kill from Burns junior Coral Averett and out-of-bounds call against Sisters put the Hilanders up 19-13. Weil made several key kills and blocks down the stretch in an overall dominant performance up front to help Burns tie it up and force a fifth game.

From there Burns didn’t look back, rolling to a 15-5 win in the final set to punch the ticket to the championship match.

No. 2 Dayton topples Catlin Gabel

On an opening tournament day without a single upset, No. 2 Dayton topped third seed Catlin Gabel 25-16, 25-17, 25-19 in the semifinals nightcap to advance to the championship.

Behind a powerful and tall front line and a quick, aggressive defensive backcourt, Dayton always seemed to have things under control, gradually building on its lead throughout the first set with big contributions from 6-foot juniors Abby Chupp and Kalysta Summerlin and senior Maddie Miguez.

Despite getting swept, Catlin Gabel kept each set relatively close.

Solid play from 6-foot-2 senior Maliha Rajan and Kate Austria, a 5-foot-5 sophomore middle blocker who skied toward the net with numerous blocks and kills, helped keep the Eagles in the contest.

After a battle to start out the second set of the match, an unreturned serve by Dayton’s Lou Auvil put the Pirates in the driver’s seat for the remainder, 15-13. Kadence Fuller gave Dayton its biggest lead of the third set 23-17 with a kill and the Pirates held on for a 25-19 win.

“We didn’t get to see Catlin Gabel this season, so it was fun to be able to see them here and study what they do,” Dayton coach Samantha Alexander said. “Luckily our team is really versatile and we were able to shake things up between games.”

Both head coaches of Dayton and Burns are looking forward to another rematch as familiar foes.

“We played Burns twice already and split with them,” Alexander said. “Burns is a phenomenal team. Our defense is aggressive and we have some scrappiness.”

Catlin Gabel and Sisters meet in the third-place match at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The quarterfinal matches followed the form chart Friday.

Burns overcame an early deficit in the first set and swept Coquille 25-23, 25-21, 25-10; Sisters topped league rival Creswell 25-22, 27-25, 25-8; Catlin Gabel beat 2025 runner-up Westside Christian 22-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-23; and Dayton topped league rival Santiam Christian 25-19, 21-25, 25-16, 25-14.

Coquille and Creswell meet in the first consolation semifinal at 9 a.m. and Westside Christian and Santiam Christian face off at 11. The fourth-place match is scheduled for 3:15 p.m.