By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– The Stayton Volleyball team saw their second set rally fall just short against Taft in the second set of their Oregon West Conference game on Tuesday night.
The Eagles trailed 24-16 in the set after Taft used an 8-3 run to reach set point. Stayton responded by winning seven of the next eight points, nearly completing the comeback before falling just short. Taft held on to take the second set 25-23, but the momentum was there going into the third set in what was an even match at the moment.
Momentum that they needed if they hoped to avoid another five-set battle with Taft on their Senior Night.
“It was super big, long rallies like that where we keep the energy up is good for us. We get loud, we talk a lot and we play really well,” said Stayton’s Erin Stutrud. “(The first meeting with Taft) was definitely an eye-opener for us, it was our first game of league and having to take Taft to five. I think tonight even with the line-up switches that we had, we really came together as a team. In the second round of league, it just really show who we are and that we can play, and I think we did that tonight.”
“It’s not new, we knew that it was going to be a battle from the get-go and we prepped the team for that. We went back-and-forth with them when we played them the first time, they just out-matched us. We couldn’t keep up with the high-pace offense after that sluggish first-set. We found our rhythm, it wasn’t enough tonight,” adds Taft Head Coach Boone Marker.
Stayton’s offense fed off of that 7-1 run into the third, then into the fourth, taking the next two sets to complete the 25-23, 23-25, 25-9, 25-15, four-set victory on Senior Night. The win keeps the Eagles undefeated in league play at 6-0 going into Thursday’s big game with Central that could decide the Oregon West Conference Title considering the Panthers’ lone league loss was to the Eagles on September 29.
And it starts in practice on Wednesday.
“Definitely working hard in practice, putting in the work then and trusting each other in our spot. We have pretty much the same team as last year, so I think going into the tougher games like Central on Thursday, it’s really important to trust each other as a team. If we work together, then we’ll win,” said Stutrud.
Taft has a tough road ahead of them. Sitting in fourth-place in the OWC, they’ll need to work into that third spot to give themselves a chance to get into the playoffs with how the 4A Playoffs are looking this season. And they’re right there, the Tigers are sitting a game behind Cascade for third-place with four games left on their schedule
“I’ve chatted with my team a lot and putting the writing on the wall for them of what we need to accomplish to be able to get into that minimal three-spot. Winning here was one of those big points for us. But now we got to get it done against Central and Cascade…having competitive games against Central and Cascade and hopefully there’s some mix up with who-beats-who in the next two weeks that might open the doors for us to get into the playoffs as a three-team,” said Marker.
Taft will host Philomath on Thursday before traveling to play Central on Tuesday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
