By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
ADAIR VILLAGE, Ore.– The Crosshill Christian Volleyball team lost some serious firepower from last year’s 2A State Championship Squad.
But despite graduating five seniors that contributed heavily towards that State Title win, the Eagles have answered the bell and picked up from where they left off entering the home stretch of the 2026 season. So far the Eagles are 8-0 in Valley Coast Conference action and are primed to try to defend that State Title.
“It was a big hole that my senior had left last year. With the girls that are coming in, they decided that they wanted to fill those holes. We had some sophomore’s step up, we had some sophomore’s step up. We had players that say, ‘I know how to do this’ and they’re filling that hole. They’re working on that consistency and being able to do it, set-after-set. They saw it led well and they decided to lean into that,” said Crosshill Christian Head Coach Julie Bennett.
Holmstrom, a first-year Varsity player who has stepped up big at the net with her hitting and blocking abilities, and Payton Kaufman, a Varsity Returner with strong offensive and a strong defensive back-line presence has helped lead the young Crosshill squad this year.
On Saturday, they took part in the annual Santiam Christian Tournament. The Eagles finished second in the tournament last Fall, but knew the benefits that this tournament has as they went to work on Saturday at Santiam Christian. Crosshill entered the Gold Bracket with the eight-seed and drew Dayton in the opening round of bracket play.
The Pirates
“We needed the opportunity to play at a high-level of play set-after-set-after-set and that’s what this tournament provides. It provides great teams with great offenses and great defense’s, and we need to match it,” said Bennett. “We have to be able to see…playing against Dayton, we were able to see faster swings and faster sets in order to have to try and track more players and that’s something that we don’t see on a regular basis. We have lessons to learn and we still have some room to grow.”
The Eagles will return to league play on Tuesday when they’ll travel to Monroe.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
