INDEPENDENCE – Down 2-1 in the semifinals, Crescent Valley girls volleyball will tell you they weren’t phased, even if the Raiders had rarely been in that spot this season.
With a 26-1 record coming into the state tournament Friday in Central High School, the lone loss coming to an out-of-state opponent, the Raiders had one of the most dominant regular seasons a team could hope for.
But a never-say-die No. 4 South Albany team took a 2-1 lead in the third matchup between Mid-Willamette Conference foes, trying to hand Crescent Valley its first in-state loss.
Instead, the Raiders stayed true to what’s worked all year in believing in their hitters, trusting the back row and getting a whole bunch of aces from senior Karsyn Horn.
The defensive specialist/libero had 15 aces in the match, but even when she didn’t get it done in one hit, the Raiders began or continued rallies from that spot in the rotation.
And those rallies allowed CV to cruise in the fourth and withstand the damage in the fifth to take the match 3-2 (25-13, 27-29, 18-25, 25-14, 15-9).
“Our team played amazing, we obviously had our ups and downs, but we played so well and everybody has been working so hard for this moment,” Horn said. “Everybody’s on cloud nine.”
Nine is nearly the amount of aces Horn had in the first set alone, starting when the Raiders led 16-13.
Crescent Valley scored the next nine points to win the frame 25-13, and four of them were aces from Horn.
“She has a great serve, sometimes she’s getting it in and sometimes it’s just nasty,” Crescent Valley head coach Paul Ossowski said. “When we practice, I jump in every once in a while, and I do not want Karsyn serving at me.”
Horn picked up another ace early in the second and started getting involved in the attack as well, meanwhile senior Allison Curtis was firing away from the middle of the net and senior Georgia Vawter couldn’t be slowed on the outside.
However, South Albany isn’t the two-time defending state champions for no reason, and the RedHawks found a way to pick themselves off the mat.
Earlier in the day in the quarterfinals, South Albany was down 2-0 to No. 5 Wilsonville, but pulled off the reverse sweep to advance. This time, they didn’t wait to go down two sets.
Down by as much as seven at 18-11, the RedHawks found some momentum behind a kill and a block from junior Addie Minnick. From there, they started to feed senior Audrey Webb, who had 28 kills in the earlier match against Wilsonville.
She picked up three more on the South Albany 10-5 run that gave it a 23-22 advantage in the second.
The two sides went back and forth from there, and the RedHawks fought off two set points and eventually won 29-27 on a kill from Minnick, an ace from Rian Piatt and a hitting error by CV.
“(Webb) is a big swinger, she has an insane vertical,” Curtis said. “It’s really hard (to get a block on her). A lot of times it’s just trying to read her and just put something up so that hopefully the defense can figure something out.”
Webb continued her reign in the third set, picking up seven kills in the third set while Minnick and sophomore Shaleigh Strome continued to make plays at the net as well.
South Albany took the frame 25-18 and put the pressure on Crescent Valley to find a way.
And the way out was getting Horn back behind the line. She rattled off another three consecutive aces in the fourth that put CV up 12-6, which was a lead the RedHawks couldn’t overcome as Curtis and Vawter went back to work as well.
“It’s amazing, Allison, Georgia, Niana (King), Morgan (Stoye), everybody is so amazing,” Horn said. “I’m so proud of our team.”
“Karysn just balled out,” Curtis said. “She had an insane serving line and it was just super fun to watch her.”
In the fifth set, it went back and forth to start until a 6-0 run put the Raiders ahead 9-4, a run that featured a kill and two aces from Horn along with a kill each from Vawter, Curtis and Stoye.
South Albany cut it to 9-7, but that was the closest it would get as CV finished off the frame and the match with two more aces and a couple kills from Vawter.
Curtis finished with 19 kills while Vawter was right behind with 18. Horn chipped in nine kills alongside her 15 aces and sophomore setter Lela Campos can’t be forgotten with her excellent setups throughout the day as well.
“I think we worked super hard to get here and I love playing these teams, they’re super competitive and super fun to play,” Curtis said. “We put so much work in, so I knew we were capable of that, so it was good to see it come true.”
Earlier in the day, Crescent Valley played No. 9 West Albany in the quarterfinals, their fifth matchup of the season between the two league foes.
The Bulldogs grabbed the first set, providing a wake up call for the Raiders to start the day bright and early.
CV responded with winning the next three sets and advancing, only to play another league foe in South Albany.
“It’s hard to beat a team twice or even three times, and we played West five times,” Ossowski said. “Them being in our league and playing them so many times, there’s just another level on top of it. Our girls always enjoy playing them, they’re great teams. It’s definitely some added emotions and another level on top of it.”
The emotions will be even higher at 6 p.m. Saturday inside the Central High gym as the Raiders for the state title against No. 2 Bend, who swept No. 3 Summit in the other semifinal.
The two played twice this year, once being a five-set CV win on Sept. 12 and the other a 2-0 CV win Sept. 26 at a tournament hosted by South Albany.
In order to secure the program’s third state title, the Raiders know they’ll need to give it their all against a young Bend that continues to get better each time out.
“Keep fighting like we’ve done all season,” Ossowski said. “There’s no other team I’d take to win the ‘chip. I love this squad and I love these girls.”
“I think stay as a team, play as a team and know there’s nothing left to lose,” Horn said. “It’s eight of our senior years, so we want to go out on a win.”
South Albany will take on No. 3 Summit in the third/fifth place game at 1 p.m. Saturday. No. 9 West Albany will play No. 5 Wilsonville at 9 a.m. in the consolation semifinal, and No. 10 La Salle Prep plays at 11 a.m. against No. 6 Crater in the other conso semi.
The winners of those games will play for fourth/sixth at 3:15 p.m.
No. 2 Bend def. No. 3 Summit 3-0 (25-23, 25-12, 25-17): Senior Brooklyn Fobi not only stepped up on the court, but stepped up as a leader as Bend swept its way back to the state final, making a return trip after finishing runnerup a season ago.
Fobi finished the semifinal with a team-high 11 kills, along with seven digs and four aces. But most importantly, she held the team together whenever rival Summit tried to make a run to get back in it.
“I think in this game additionally, besides her just being a great player, I saw really great leadership out of (Fobi),” Bend head coach Kristin Cooper said. “There were some smiles, she kept it calm for the team, she made the big plays when we needed to and gave support we needed her to. That was kind of the last little puzzle piece for her and I really saw the leadership come out tonight.”
Bend got its block going as well behind freshman Dublin Jensen who had three of them. Sophomore Riley Isfeld chipped in two blocks and three kills while junior Izzy Limoges had nine kills.
The Lava Bears will go for title No. 3 against Crescent Valley at 6 p.m. Saturday at Central High.
“Serve tough, keep the ball off the floor and play our hearts out,” Cooper said. “When you get to this point, you got nothing to lose, so put it all out there and see what happens.”
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Crescent Valley def. No. 9 West Albany 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-17): West Albany had lost all previous 11 sets in four matchups with Crescent Valley, but came out the gates ready at Central HS with a first set win.
However, the Raiders took over from there by winning the next three, a needed wake up call for them to shake out the nerves.
“I think the first set, it was nerves and anticipation and stuff like that,” Curtis said. “We were able to settle in a little bit. Losing the first set definitely put some drive into us.”
No. 4 South Albany def. No. 5 Wilsonville 3-2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-16, 15-5): Wilsonville came out strong behind sophomore Lucy Heu-Weller, but South Albany weren’t two-time defending champions for no reason.
After dropping the first two sets, senior Audrey Webb started imposing her will at the net for the RedHawks, alongside junior setter Brooklynn Dodge.
Webb couldn’t be stopped in the third and fourth sets, picking up a majority of her match-leading 28 kills. Mix in some heads up plays from junior Addie Minnick making an assist or a couple important digs, and the RedHawks had the match tied at two.
And in the final set, it all came together for South Albany with Webb picking up four quick kills, Minnick getting a kill and an ace and junior Blair Hinkel putting down a block.
The RedHawks breezed in the fifth 15-5 as Dodge finished with 35 assists to pair with Webb’s 28 kills. Minnick had seven kills and five aces, and sophomore Shaleigh Strome had seven kills and a block.
No. 3 Summit def. No. 6 Crater 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-16): Summit took control of the match earlier and never let go behind its firing squad of junior Liv Moses, senior Ellie Correa, senior Lily Earnshaw and senior Tori Gange.
Senior setter Jessie Doorn continually made the right play to set up those attacks, and the back row handled the attacks well from Crater’s top threats in Addison Benson and Brynlee Young.
No. 2 Bend def. No. 7 La Salle Prep 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 25-19): La Salle Prep dug in and played strong defense against Bend, forcing the Lava Bears to have some patience in the four-set match.
The Falcons refused to be overpowered, getting tips at the net and getting digs that not many teams have been able to pull off against Bend.
Ultimately though, the Lava Bears were able to wear the Falcons down behind 14 kills a piece from Fobi and Limoges.
“Going in and scouting and looking against (La Salle), I’m telling the girls, ‘We’ve got to be patient,’” Cooper said. “Everybody on their team can do everything. … It wasn’t just going to be taking care of one or two players, it was beating a team. It took us a little bit of time, but we had patience and were able to pull it out.”
austinw@osaa.org
Subscribe
