The Tigers surged early.
The Lakers battled back late.
But in the end, the Tigard volleyball team broke away from Lake Oswego late in the fifth set and used that edge to post a 25-22, 18-25, 25-20, 16-25, 15-12 win at Tigard High School on Thursday, Sept. 26.
“It means a lot,” said Tigard junior outside hitter Hailey Gustafson, who had the second-most kills on her team against Lake Oswego. “We worked really hard to get here and we're just really happy that it came out in our favor.”
“I think we really started working as a team at the end,” said Tiger junior setter Ainsley Snider. “They were working really hard and they got us to work even harder. I think we really started to work as a team at the end.”
The Standings
With the victory, the No. 22 Tigers won for the second straight time and improved to 2-3 in Three Rivers League play and 7-5 overall. Next up, Tigard plays in the Lincoln tournament on Saturday, Sept. 28, then hosts St. Mary’s at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1.
No. 21 Lake Oswego, meanwhile, lost for the second straight time and fell to 2-2 in league and 6-4 overall. Next up, the Lakers host West Linn at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1.
“They had a really strong student section and we came in a couple girls down and it just took us a little bit of time to adjust to it,” said Lake Oswego senior middle blocker Sabrina Montgomery, who led her teams in blocks and recorded the second-most service points. “We had pretty good serve receive the whole time, but we didn't quite put the ball away (the way we wanted to).”
“We have some girls out and so it's a whole new lineup for us, but I think we really pushed through it,” added Laker sophomore setter Jessica Wilson. “But I think we were all a little frantic at the start.”
The Play
While the Tigers won the night’s first set, the Lakers closed within 22-21 on a Montgomery kill from the middle. But Tigard notched three of the set’s final four points – all on Lake Oswego errors – to win 25-22.
LO bounced back big-time in the night’s second set, breaking open a 12-9 game by outscoring Tigard 13-9 the rest of the way to its 25-18 win. Down the stretch, Montgomery collected three kills, sophomore Gabi Wallen added one kill and two aces, sophomore Phoebe Jones had two kills and an ace, and senior Gabby Troche ended the set with a tip set by freshman Bethany Nazemi.
Tigard answered in the third set to push ahead 2-1, scoring six of the final 10 points to win 25-20. In their late run, the Tigers got a kill and a tip from senior outside hitter Sloan Sanders – she led Tigard in kills – while Gustafson added a kill of her own and senior Camille Yutzie converted on a free ball.
The Lakers, however, responded with their best set of the night, breaking open a 16-16 set and pulling away to win 25-16 to tie the match at 2-2. Laker senior middle blocker Gabby Troche led the way there, with a kill from the middle of the net and two tips for points, while freshman Megan Cheldelin added two kills and Montgomery – who served the set’s final eight points – ended the game with an ace.
The fifth set was tight, too, with LO edging back within 10-9 on a Montgomery kill from the middle before the Tigers pulled away to win down the stretch. Sanders connected twice from the left side, senior Dylan Brandow added a block and Gustafson ended the match with a tip set by Snider.
“At the beginning of the season, (we were playing really well), then we kind of took a dip,” Gustafson said. “But now we're back up and we're happy to be here.”
“Something that our coach (Jesse Abell) said is, if we keep having energy and bringing that up, it's going to take them down,” Snider said. “We just have to bring the energy to every single point.”
For their part, the Lakers knew they’d played well enough to win and know they’ve got what they need to succeed in the Three Rivers League.
“I think we've grown a lot and we have really good team chemistry,” Wilson said. “It's just all going a lot better.”
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