BY TANNER RUSS

FOREST GROVE – The Wildcats finally got the win over league rivals Jesuit, doing so in an intense four-set battle. Westview dropped the first set 25-12, but rallied to win the next three sets 25-22, 25-18, 25-14 to deny the three-times defending state champions a berth in the state finals.

After the game, Westview coach Janelle Bryant said her squad played confident against the higher seeded Crusaders.

“I can’t even believe it,” Bryant said. “That’s something we talked about, that we could face them in the semis, and we lost to them twice in league, we’ve battled with them. All year, the last few years, we’ve been second in league, and I told the girls, ‘If we’re going to have an opportunity to beat them, we’re going to beat them at state,’ and we did. That was our gameplan, we just focused (on) one match at a time, and we wanted to play them in the semis.”

Jesuit got the better of Westview 3-2 on Sept. 24, and then again 3-1 at Jesuit High School on Oct. 14. But the Wildcats were the ones who had the last laugh on Friday night in Forest Grove.

The game started with the momentum firmly heading in Jesuit's favor. The Crusaders and Wildcats were tied through 4-4 when the one-seed began to pull away, looking composed and confident. Jesuit ran its advantage out to 14-7, keeping Westview’s offense from finding any sort of rhythm while kills from the likes of senior Marley Freeman and sophomore Devan Rolling drove up the score.

It was exactly what Jesuit coach Teresa Zimmerlee wanted to see from her squad.

“(In the first set) the kids were playing confident and we were passing well and the hitters were putting the ball in the court,” Zimmerlee said.

After taking the first set 25-12, Jesuit fell behind early in the second set against the resilient Wildcats. Westview jumped out to a 10-5 lead early and would keep the Crusaders at bay throughout the second set. Big plays from 6-2 senior middle blocker Ashlyn Pedersen, senior outside hitter Abbey Meier and senior libero Mady Lebeck were crucial.

According to Bryant, the three senior captains each brought a different element to the win.

“Pederson is … our main middle and I was telling my setter, just feed her, feed her, feed her,” Bryant said. “When she’s on, she’s really hard to stop. … Abbey has just been solid all year playing all the way around and her energy and enthusiasm at the net, shutting them down, big swings, she’s just really, really stepped up for us all year round. I would also say … Mady Lebeck is just the glue in the back row. She passes nails, serves really tough, and has phenomenal digs that keep us in those long rallies.”

Westview tied the game up at 1-1 with a 25-22 win in the second set and continued to press its advantage, establishing an early lead it was loathe to relinquish. The Wildcats claimed the third set 25-18.

In the fourth and deciding set, Westview once again leapt out to an early lead, 8-4, but Jesuit remained nipping at the Wildcats heels. Closing to within one point at 8-7, then again at 10-9 and 13-12. But that was as close as the Crusaders would get. Westview separated itself from its fellow Metro League denizen and won the fourth set 25-14 off an emphatic Meier block.

Westview will be in the state championship game against No. 2 seed Sprague on Nov. 7 at Forest Grove High School at 6:30 p.m.

Olympians topple Saxons 3-0

In the other semifinal matchup on Friday evening, Central Valley Conference foes Sprague and South Salem met for the third and final time this season. The Saxons emerged victorious the previous two times, but Sprague would not be denied a return trip to the state championship match.

For Sprague coach Anne Olsen, the 3-0 win to catapult the Olympians into the championship game was redemptive.

“The thing that I’ve been telling people after the game is that that’s redemption,” Olsen said. “Redemption from a hard-fought season and that we lost to them in conference, lost out on a conference championship this year. But now we’re going to the finals, and it felt so good to come out and have a game like that where we swept them in three and played like we did.”

Sprague (23-5) started the game neck and neck with its Salem-based counterpart. The two teams struggled to find a rhythm in the early goings, remaining knotted up through 9-9. However, Sprague put together a 6-2 run to give itself some breathing room thanks to kills from seniors Khloe Livingston and Brooke Friesen. The Olympians would up winning the first set 25-15.

For South Salem coach Matt Leichty, defeat in the semifinals was an unfriendly reminder of last year’s tournament outcome. In 2025, the Saxons fell to Jesuit 3-2 in the semifinals. This year, they will face the Crusaders in the third place matchup.

This years defeat, according to Leichty, was the team not being able to play its style of volleyball.

“We knew we needed to attack them, that’s a key for us,” Leichty said. “Our offense is our game, we have to be able to attack aggressively and unfortunately we didn’t get into a good offensive rhythm tonight. We didn’t pass the ball well, especially early, and Sprague just had us scrambling all over the place for stuff. That took us out of what we needed to do as a team, and we were never able to find the rhythm we needed to.”

Throughout the course of the game, one of the ways Sprague kept South Salem out of sync was by switching up the speed of its attack. Leichty said his team didn’t defend the tip well, and Olsen said the tip is a weapon her squad looks to utilize.

“With a lot of teams, if you can go up and really sell it, and throw the tip in, more often than not it will drop,” Olsen said. “That definitely is a part of our game plan, that you’ve got to keep switching it up, you’ve got to keep changing what you’re doing, otherwise they’re going to camp on you and think that you’ll be hitting all day.”

It was a tip kill from Sprague’s Liana Paul that closed out a competitive second set 25-20 in favor of the Olympians.

Sprague continued to battle back and forth with South Salem throughout the third set, eventually completing the sweep 25-18, and earning its way into the championship round against Westview. No Salem-Keizer 6A school has won a state volleyball championship yet, something Olsen is keenly aware of going into Saturday’s matchup.

“Well hopefully the third times the charm,” Olsen said. “This is my third time going since I’ve been here at Sprague. No Salem-Keizer 6A school has even won a state championship, this could be the first one for Salem 6A schools. We were there last year, so it’s two years in a row. Being that this is the third time, I’m hoping this turns out to be a good one for us. No extra pressure necessarily, but I have a spot in the gym where I’m waiting to put a banner up and I’m excited to get to that point hopefully.”

Leichty meanwhile will prepare his Saxon squad for one last postseason effort against Jesuit on Saturday.

"We were in this spot last year, it’s a hard spot to be in, coming back and being ready to play another game when, yes, it means something, but it’s hard to change the mindset," Leichty said. "You’re so focused on the end goal of a championship game. I think for us, we have to get some rest and regroup and think about what we’ve got to do tomorrow. Just come in relaxed and play our game, try to be the aggressor, try to be attacking team and take it to them start to finish.”

In the Quarterfinals

Jesuit advanced to the semifinals with a dominant victory over South Eugene (18-9) in the first match of the day. The Crusaders downed the Axe in straight sets 25-14, 25-17, 25-13. The win marked the 10th straight win in the state tournament for a team on the hunt for its fourth straight state title.

For South Eugene, the loss capped a magical run to the postseason for just the second time since 2016. The loss dropped the team into the consolation bracket where they’ll face PIL champs Grant.

In the 4-5 matchup, Westview dispatched Grant 3-1 (25-16, 25-16, 22-25, 25-18) before moving into its matchup with Jesuit. Grant’s (22-5) second trip to the state tournament in three years once again results in the consolation bracket, but a chance at a first tournament win is still in the cards.

In the 3-6 matchup, South Salem held off a resilient Central Catholic to win 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 16-14) to move into its rematch with Sprague. Central Catholic (24-8) will face off against Sheldon (19-13), who fell in straight sets 25-23, 25-15, 25-20 to Sprague.