By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– Last Fall saw the South Salem Volleyball achieve a historic feat:
Their highest-ever finish at State, finishing third in 6A.
“We’ve been consistent year-after-year and we definitely had a little bit of a breakthrough last year and stepping into that Top 4. Losing a tough one to Jesuit, but winning that third-place game was a good bounce back for us even though it’s hard to come back and play that game after you lose that one to get to the Championship,” said South Salem Head Coach Matt Leichty. “Definitely a good end to last year to get to moving into this one for sure.”
South Salem returns a solid core from that squad despite graduating setter Kamree Orizotti and Outside Hitter Briella Mathis. The Herber twins of Avery and Addi return for their senior season, both are University of Montana-commits and were impressive for the Saxons last season en route to that third-place finish.
“The twins are obviously a big factor for us last year and they’re even more so this year. They’re still strong, huge options offensively, they just make plays,” said Leichty.
Nora Kartye has improved a lot from last year and Leichty is expecting her to carry that momentum into her junior year. Ava Mosgrove is in the same boat according to Leichty with her development. Ellenia Setzer, Leah Ioane and Aleydah Luna anchor a solid defensive backline and are expected to carry that over to this Fall as well.
“All three have really been solid in practice so far,” Leichty said of the trio. “We have a lot of other players that are making up ground in areas that we’re going to be able to make up for the losses. It’s not going to be all one player, it’s going to be spread out. Everyone is going to play a role for sure.”
Wednesday’s Red and White Scrimmage was a nice Icebreaker for South Salem to get the jitters out going into their tournament at Mountain View on Friday. JV, JV2 and freshmen went first before the Varsity scrimmaged to close out the night in front of a good crowd at South Salem High School.
“It’s just great to just get out and let the kids play a little bit and get in the uniform for the first time with a few people in the stands. Just shake off those first jitters, especially for the the younger kids when they step out here, it gives them a chance to come out and have some fun and not have a lot of pressure on them,” said Leichty.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
