By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SCIO, Ore.– Wednesday’s 3A Playoff Victory has been a long time coming for the Scio Logger Volleyball program.
Over the last ten, eleven, twelve years, the Loggers have been successful. Contending for Playoff spots and winning a regular season league championship to their resume.
But the one thing that has been eluding them to this point was beyond the regular season:
Playoff Success.
Well. They finally did it. They got that elusive first win. First playoff win over the last ten years, and looking back through the records and archives, the first time ever. This coming off a 28-26, 25-11, 25-15 sweep of Glide to open the 3A State Playoffs on Wednesday night at home.
And it was that first set that really set Scio up for the success that they had in this game.
They jumped out to a 16-12 lead on the Wildcats, only to see Glide storm ahead and had the set in set point at 24-22 before the Loggers pulled even with them at 24. The two squads stayed locked in as it was tied at 25, then 26. Both squads were just hoping that this set will go their way to help set the tone for the rest of the game.
“I felt like we started off really strong and then we calmed down too much and let them come back. But knowing that we can finish strong and it set us up successfully for the last two sets,” said Emma Thatcher. “Just being confident in each other and in ourselves, it plays a big role in it. When we play together and communicate is when we’re our strongest.”
Finishing sets has been the Loggers weakness this year. But in that first set, they were able to finish the set, taking it 28-26 and were able to use that momentum into the second set where they jumped out to a 16-6 lead.
“I felt like we really struggled with it in the past, finishing all the way and I feel like we really succeeded in that and it really set our momentum for the rest of the game to stay up,” said Addison Storms. “We all just really wanted it and it really showed in our play. We didn’t let anything drop and we just kept playing, even when a mistake was made.”
Scio would take set two 25-11 to take a two sets to none lead on Glide.
The Wildcats, however, refocused themselves going into the third set. Through the first 17 points, they were hanging right there with the Loggers, trailing the home squad 10-7. It echoed that of the first set almost with the competitiveness.
But fatigue seemed to sink in for the Wildcats as they faltered a little bit, giving Scio an opportunity to build an 18-11 lead and were able to close out the game in three sets on Wednesday night. The Loggers are on the road on Saturday when they’ll take on Burns for a spot at the Final Site in Coos Bay on the line.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
