The Wilsonville volleyball team started the night at a sprint.
The Wildcats slowed to a jog in the night’s second set and stumbled to a stop in the third, but when push came to shove, Wilsonville found its legs again and pushed past Canby 25-7, 25-17, 18-25, 25-20 at Wilsonville High School on Thursday, Oct. 3.
The quotes, the standings
“I thought we did good,” said Wilsonville senior opposite Lana Gillas, who scored four of the final five points in the clinching fourth set. “I thought we started off a little bit slow in the third set and we kind of had a bit of a third-set letdown, but we were able to pick it up and get down to business in the fourth set.”
“It feels amazing. I'm excited for my third (straight Northwest Oregon Conference title),” said Wildcat senior setter Ellis Underhill. “I'm really excited.”
With the win, the second-ranked Wildcats snapped their one-match losing streak and improved to 9-0 in NWOC play and 10-2 overall. Next up, Wilsonville will face St. Mary’s Grant and Canby in the Canby Round Robin Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 5, at Canby High School.
Unranked Canby, meanwhile, saw its two-match winning streak snapped and fell to 6-4 in NWOC play and 8-5 overall. Next up, the Cougars will face St. Mary’s Grant and Wilsonville in the Canby Round Robin Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 5, at Canby High School.
“I thought it was a great (match),” said Canby junior outside hitter/middle blocker Geneva Diggles. “Last year against Wilsonville, we really struggled. But this season, we’ve really come back and we’re really focused on getting to the playoffs. … I think we just put a lot of fight into it.”
“Sometimes our team comes out slow and we're not really ready to start … but we just put it all out there,” added Cougar senior outside hitter/opposite Ava Doman.
The play
The Wildcats opened the night on fire, leading 7-1 early, extending their edge to 19-5 and rolling to a devastating 25-7 “W” in the first set. Senior outside hitter Emma Fauth led the way there, with two kills and two aces, Underhill had an ace and two tips for points, sophomore Teagan Hamilton added a kill and an ace, and junior Emily Holmes served seven straight points.
The second set – another Wilsonville win – was tighter, with the Wildcats leading just 15-13 at the mid-point before the Wildcats pulled away to win 25-17. Down the stretch, Fauth notched two kills and an ace, Underhill had three aces and senior Sophia Brandes made a block.
Already down 2-0 in sets and facing defeat, the Cougars came back with their best set of the night to win 25-18. Canby took the lead for good at 8-7 and was still up just 18-14 late before scoring seven of the set’s final 11 points to win.
Cougar junior Madeline Olsen set the pace in the third set, serving three aces, then adding one kill and one block, while Ford and Doman had two kills each.
The fourth set was a battle, too, with Canby trailing just 21-18 when Diggles and junior Kinsley Morrow teamed up to block Fauth with Cougar senior Brooke Doman at the service line.
But Gillas and the Wildcats got the last laugh at the end of the night, with Brandes notching a block, while Gillas scored on a block and added two kills, including a crosscourt game-winner from the right side set by Underhill.
“We spend a lot of time in practice perfecting our serving and we have the best serving in Oregon, in our opinions,” Underhill said. “We showed that tonight.”
“We have six of the best (players in our starting lineup) and then we have our other six that are just as good,” Gillas said, touting the Wildcats’ depth. “We're able to put anybody in at any time and I think that's really wonderful and a great asset to us to have.”
For their part, the Cougars left encouraged by their efforts after the first set.
“Sometimes, our team comes out and we're not really ready to start,” Ava Doman said. “But I think that we all have a fire and a drive and a love for each other and we want to win, so we just put it all out there.”
“We been putting everything on the court these last few games and our team is really pushing for sure,” Diggles added.
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