Fishermen drop game to hungry Tigers

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, September 19, 2002

Taking a few lumps along the way is all part of the learning process, as the Astoria volleyball team found out Thursday night.

A night filled with promise and potential turned into a four-game loss for the Fishermen as the Taft Tigers roared back from a one-game deficit for a 21-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-10 nonleague victory at the Brickhouse.

“It’s a learning process, and we’ve got to learn how to win these games,” said Astoria coach Jeff Leo, whose team slips to 3-1 overall, while Taft remains undefeated.

“Taft’s a good team, and we came out and dominated them the first game,” he said. “It shows us what we can do. But Taft is more experienced in big-match situations. They have nine seniors on the roster, so they’re used to games like this, and we’re not.

The Daily Astorian file

Astoria’s Juliann Nelson goes up for the kill in a volleyball game earlier this season.

“We don’t have a lot of varsity experience, and this is the first big varsity match that our players have been a part of,” Leo said. “It’s good that it happened before we play Rainier Tuesday. That was the positive – we learned what it takes to win.”

Game 1 featured 14 ties and seven lead changes, before the Fishermen reeled off a 4-1 rally to win.

Astoria sophomore Shyra Merila set up kills for Megan Gabriel, Heidi Hanson and Juliann Nelson to help the Fishermen to the victory, which served as a wake-up call for the Tigers.

“The first game we came out and played tough,” Leo said. “We showed them that we’re a good team, and they thought, ‘maybe we need to turn it up a notch,’ and they did.”

Taft jumped out to a 14-6 lead in Game 2, and the Fishermen found that it’s hard to rally in rally scoring, even after Astoria had closed the gap to 14-11.

“If you’re down nine, you have to flat-out play perfect,” Leo said. And in a best 3-out-of-5, “that’s a long time to play good.”

After a 7-7 tie in Game 3, the Tigers went on a 13-4 run, highlighted by several powerful kills from Taft senior Makalea Napoleon, with a few more from teammate Megan Gilmore.

The Tigers built a 12-3 lead in the fourth game, and never looked back.

Looking back, Leo said “the turning point was the whole second game. We were happy after winning the first game, because we knew that they were a tough team. They just took the momentum away from us, and we never got it back.”

Gabriel finished with 12 kills, while Nelson added eight kills and 19 digs.

The Fishermen are scheduled to host a tournament Saturday, then it’s on to Cowapa League play with Astoria opening at home Tuesday against Rainier.

“We’re ready to roll,” Leo said. “We could be a little more solid on a few fundamentals. We made a lot of mental errors tonight, so we could use a few more matches like this. We lost to a good team.”

Gulls sweep MolallaSEASIDE – “We finally closed one out,” said Seaside volleyball coach Jason Boyd, who watched his team sweep visiting Molalla Thursday night, 25-17, 25-19, 25-16.

The Gulls hit the ball better than they have all year, Boyd said, as the Gulls hit at a 74 percent clip (60-for-81). Seaside also hit 61-of-71 serve attempts, with six aces.

“The girls played very well tonight,” Boyd said. “Minimizing our mistakes and outstanding defense made the difference. Tough serving kept the Indians on their heels all night long.”

The Gulls take part in a tournament at Sisters Saturday, where they could face second-ranked Henley, third-ranked Estacada and seventh-ranked Wilsonville, among others.

Pirates down LoggersROCKAWAY BEACH – Knappa lost a trio of close games Thursday night at Neah-Kah-Nie, as the Pirates edged past the Loggers 25-22, 25-23, 28-26 in a Northwest League volleyball match.

Despite the loss, Knappa coach Alida Wallace said, “We played really good. It’s a whole new team coming up from last year, physically and mentally. I was just really impressed.”

Two newcomers, freshman Nadra Evans and sophomore Katie Ho, highlighted Knappa’s play, coupled with the serving of Nicole Benthin, Christa Langston and Molly Miller.

“They all had good little scoring runs to either put us back in the game or put us up for a little bit,” said Wallace, whose team drops to 0-2. Knappa hosts Corbett Tuesday.

Cards beat WarriorsCORBETT – The Corbett Cardinals showed why they’re the defending Northwest League champions Thursday night, as they opened the 2002 league season with a 25-22, 25-14, 25-11 win over visiting Warrenton.

“We played them tough in a tournament at Neah-Kah-Nie, and we played OK today, but (the Cardinals) were really on tonight,” said Warrenton coach Dianne Dick. “They had a girl who did a great job attacking the middle on us.”

Diana Kerr was 9-for-9 at the service line for the Warriors, with four kills, while teammate Katie Arnall added five kills. Ditsy Claterbos was 10-of-10 hitting, and Holly Bandeen hit 9-of-9 serves.

Warrenton takes part in a Nestucca Tournament Saturday, then returns to host Portland Christian Tuesday.

Saints top JaysJEWELL – North Clackamas dropped the first game, but won the next three as the Saints left Jewell Thursday night with a 23-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-14 Casco League volleyball win over the Bluejays.

Jewell’s Mollie Lee had five hits and 47 assists for the Jays, who drop to 2-3 overall. Rene Steinweg had four hits and six blocks, and Sarah Seeley added 42 assists for Jewell.

“We’re consistently picking up more, and starting to get more comfortable with one another,” said Jewell coach Cathy Rozinek. “We’re a young team, but they’re beginning to trust each other.”

The Jays are scheduled to play at a South Wasco Tournament Saturday.

Pe Ell def. NasellePE ELL, Wash. – The Pe Ell volleyball team caught the Naselle Comettes on a bad night, as the Trojans defeated the visiting Comettes in a three-game sweep, 15-11, 15-11, 15-8.

Naselle hosts Wahkiakum Tuesday.