By JOHN GUNTHER/For OSAAtoday
NORTH BEND — Marshfield and Marist Catholic will meet in a championship rematch at the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 4A Volleyball Championships after the familiar foes each won two matches Friday at North Bend High School.
The Pirates and Spartans are Sky-Em League rivals and the top two teams in the state rankings. Last year, Marist Catholic denied Marshfield two straight state titles with a five-set win in the championship match. This fall, Marshfield won both matchups in the regular season, in five sets in Coos Bay and four sets in Eugene.
The championship match is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m., concluding a busy day with consolation semifinals and two trophy matches before the main event.
Marshfield swept Stayton in the semifinals 25-16, 25-19, 25-19. Marist Catholic held off Crook County 25-21, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23.
Marshfield beat Cascade in the quarterfinals 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 25-19 and Stayton advanced with a sweep of Pendleton, 25-18, 25-23, 25-13.
In the quarterfinal matches on the other half of the bracket, Marist Catholic swept Henley 25-17, 25-19, 25-21 and Crook County came back after losing the first set to beat The Dalles 16-25, 26-24, 25-19, 25-22.
The Marshfield-Stayton semifinal was marked by strong defense from both teams in the first set, with several long rallies, but Marshfield had a few spurts the Eagles couldn’t counter.
Stayton led 8-7 before the Pirates scored four straight points and led the rest of the way.
The second set was close until the late stages, when Marshfield finished with a flourish. The Pirates led 21-19 when Tatum Montiel had back-to-back kills and another to finish the set after a Stayton hitting error.
Stayton climbed out of a huge hole after a slow start in the final set before Marshfield pulled away late.
Marshfield raced out to a 6-1 lead forcing an early timeout from Stayton coach Ruth Daniels and the lead was 8-1 before the Eagles started chipping away. They got back within 15-14 forcing a timeout from Marshfield coach Tammie Montiel and were back within one point three more times, but never able to pull even.
Marshfield led 20-19 when Stayton had a hitting error followed by a stuff block by Marshfield’s Ava Ainsworth and Analise McCord that started the Pirates’ closing run. An ace by Alie Clarke set up match point and a powerful kill by Montiel ended it.
“We’re excited to be back in it for the third year in a row,” Tammie Montiel said. “I think we still have our best volleyball ahead of us to play tomorrow.”
She credited both Friday opponents for pushing the Pirates.
“Stayton and Cascade both put up a good fight and made us work for every point,” Montiel said.
Marshfield also got better throughout the day, the coach said.
“We passed a little better (against Stayton), so we were able to utilize more of our hitters,” Montiel said. “When we can use our middles, we are a better team.”
Marshfield also benefitted from its experience on a squad led by four seniors who now will play in their third championship match.
“Us being here before and our experience and being able to stay calm and stay confident helped us,” she said.
Tatum Montiel had 22 kills against Stayton and Clarke had five and McCord and Ainsworth three each. McCord had three aces and 15 digs. Ainsworth had 23 assists and 18 digs and Clarke had 18 digs and libero Chloe Runn 17.
Against Cascade, Marshfield had 17 aces, including six by Clarke and four by McCord. Montiel had 21 kills and Clarke eight. Runn had 30 digs and Clarke 27 and Ainsworth had 30 assists.
Stayton’s coach said she was proud of the Eagles for their effort, especially since the school hasn’t been in the final tournament for 23 years.
“I think the girls played great,” Daniels said. “They came out with heart and played well.
“Marshfield is a good team. You have to match their energy and speed and we couldn’t do it (the whole match).”
She was proud of the Eagles’ comeback in the final set.
“They had the fight in them,” Daniels said.
Kathryn Samek had eight kills and Kenzi Hollenbeck and Laina Atiyeh six each against Marshfield.
In the win over Pendleton, Samek had 15 kills and Hollenbeck had nine kills and seven stuff blocks.
The Eagles also had nine aces spread among five different players and got “crazy defense” from Raegan Nightingale, Daniels said.
Stayton was in North Bend for the second straight week. The Eagles advanced to the tournament with a win over North Bend in the round of 16.
Now they will return home with a trophy, either for third place or fifth place.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Daniels said. “They’ve worked hard.”
In the other semifinal, the Spartans outlasted Crook County in a defensive slugfest. Both teams have several strong hitters, but throughout the match few balls got through the other squad’s blockers cleanly and some of the ones that did were dug up by the back row.
“It’s all about defense for us,” longtime Marist Catholic coach Shari Pimental said.
Crook County coach Makayla Lindburg had similar thoughts about her club.
“They’re scrappy,” she said.
As the scores suggest, the match was close most of the way.
Marist Catholic jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the first set, but Crook County came back just as quick. The set stayed close until the late stages.
Giana Elgarico had two kills that gave the Spartans three-point leads and a stuff block by two of her teammates helped secure the win, topped off on a kill by Lauren Rohman.
In the second set, it was the Spartans who were behind early, battling back from an early 7-1 deficit, eventually going in front 15-14 on the way to the set win.
Marist Catholic scored the first three points of the third set before the Cowgirls scored eight in a row, prompting a timeout by Pimental. The run eventually stretched 10 points in a row before a kill by Rohman for the Spartans.
Crook County led 19-12 before one last surge by the Spartans. Marist Catholic scored five points in a row before a net violation. Back-to-back-to-back aces by Crook County’s Lillimae Brumble pushed the lead back to six points and a kill by Cylie Hartzell and a tip by Camryn Jeppsen helped extend the match to a fourth set.
The Cowgirls again raced in front early, prompting a timeout by the Spartans when the score got to 6-1. Marist Catholic scored five points in a row and the set was tight the rest of the way, the teams trading a combination of kills, blocks and hitting errors leading to the score being tied several times.
The Spartans led 21-20 when Anona Marsh had a kill for the Cowgirls and a stuff block on the next play gave them their final lead.
Elderico had back-to-back kills to put the Spartans back in front and a rare instance of miscommunication on defense by the Cowgirls set up match point.
After a service error by the Spartans Elderico had one final kill to seal the match, giving her 16 for the night, to go with 11 digs and three stuff blocks. Rohman had 13 kills, 25 assists, 11 digs and three stuff blocks.
Pimental said she was not surprised at the tight nature of the match.
“They are a great team,” she said. “We are going to have the hardest road to get to the finals. We traveled that same path last year.”
Marist Catholic topped Crook County in a five-set marathon in the quarterfinals last year before beating Mazama in the semifinals and Marshfield for the title.
Lindburg said she was proud of her team’s effort against the Spartans, especially since Marist Catholic easily handled the Cowgirls in a tournament earlier in the year.
“Last time we played them, they kind of worked us,” she said. “We couldn’t handle their hitters.”
Crook County did a much better job Friday and the coach credited the work of libero Kendall Martinez, along with Abbigail Pack, Brumble and McKenna Maykut.
“Kendall passed consistently and dug up more balls than I’ve seen all season,” she said. “Abbi is a silent weapon. Offensively she doesn’t have many stats but her job tonight was to put up a big block against Marist’s big hitters on the outside and middle and she did just that. She was a wall and made them hit shots that we could play out.”
Brumble and Maykut both had strong hitting nights.
In Marist Catholic’s earlier win against Henley, the Spartans hit well and “just kept plugging away,” Pimental said.
Elgarico had nine kills, three aces and three blocks. Rohman had seven kills and 13 assists. Kimberly Spurlock had seven kills and Kegan De Lee had 15 digs.
Now the Spartans face Marshfield for the top prize for the second straight year, their sixth meeting overall during the past two seasons.
“It’s not like we don’t know each other,” Pimental said, though she predicted both sides would try to throw a few new wrinkles at each other.
Having Spurlock back in the lineup after she missed the entire Sky-Em League season with an injury should help the Spartans, too, she said.
Friday’s action set up a busy Saturday that starts with the consolation quarterfinals. Cascade and Pendleton meet at 9 a.m., followed by Henley and The Dalles at 11.
The third-place match between Stayton and Crook County is at 1 p.m., with the fourth-place match at 4:15 and the championship match at 6:30.
The tournament and the 3A tournament next door at Marshfield High School are the first to use separate gyms, which allow all games to be played on full courts. In the other state tournaments around the state, which each feature two classifications, two matches are played side by side until the championship matches.
“I like the one-court feel much better,” Tammie Montiel said.
Pimental, who has been to many state tournaments over a career spanning more than three decades, agreed.
“It’s kind of nice being the solo court,” she said. “It feels like it’s a bigger deal.”
