ONALASKA — No nonsense and straight to the point.
In a year with aspirations as high as the Onalaska High School volleyball program has seen in over a decade, it’s trickled down from the coaches to the players. After a C2BL title last week, the focus is now on a District 4 championship.
Yet Susan Gordon didn’t mince words on Saturday night.
“We don’t normally play that bad,” the Loggers head coach said. “We weren’t on our best, even on our half-best.”
Top-seeded Onalaska staved off a feisty Adna bunch to secure a 25-15, 20-25, 25-15, 25-8 victory in a Class 2B District 4 quarterfinal at Dennis Bower Court. It’s the second straight postseason the Loggers will be in the semifinals.
The semis has been a hurdle they haven’t overcome in recent memory. They haven’t played for a district title since they were in 1A back in 2007.
“Hopefully we played our bad game for the next couple of weeks and we’re done with it,” Gordon said. “I don’t know if I can handle another one of those. We can’t afford to (be) unorganized; get rid of all that.”
It was the final game at home for the three stalwart seniors of Braelyn Babb, Emalie Jacoby and Sommer Hammer. Yet it’s been the switch of positions for junior Capri McGraw that’s added another element to Onalaska (14-1).
McGraw was one of the best liberos in the area as a sophomore and was primed to hold the top spot this fall. When the Loggers played three straight matches on the east side versus Selah, Tri-Cities Prep and East Valley Yakima, there was a thought about moving McGraw as an outside hitter.
The other side of the coin was to find someone to replace the leadership and production at the libero spot. In comes eighth grader Ellie Jacoby.
“We needed another outside hitter,” Gordon said. “I wasn’t sure if we were going to take (McGraw) out all the way. Ellie came in and is just solid. It made the move a lot easier.”
McGraw posted nine kills on Saturday as her evolution continues to be another option on the front line.
“She’s progressed in that position and is just now coming into a good hitter,” Gordon said.
Onalaska used multiple spurts to claim the opening set, but the second set proved to be another story.
Adna (8-11), a few hours after triumphing over North Beach in a five-set pigtail thriller, reached another gear and jumped out to a 9-2 lead. Three straight aces from Shelby Eixbenberger put them up 17-15, then a few points later, the biggest point of the set happened.
A long rally was ended with a kick from Ella Nicholson that caromed off the closed hands of an Onalaska back row player and put the Pirates in prime position, leading 23-17. Makayla Maynard fired down a free ball kill to tie the match at 1-1.
“(They) just had fun,” Adna head coach Wendie Dotson said. “We did serve receive better. It was one of those games where they took the pressure off themselves a little bit and that helped a lot.”
The third set was competitive and no lead was bigger than three for most of it. The Loggers eventually pulled away with the final seven points, capped by a Faith Hammer ace. They turned a 5-4 deficit early in the fourth into a 13-5 advantage and never looked back.
Both the Jacoby girls had 16 digs while Emalie also notched 16 kills and nine assists. Karsyn Koenig recorded three aces and two blocks.
“If there was anything we did well was blocking until we got our stuff together and then we were playing well,” Gordon said.
Adna was paced by 12 kills from Kamryn Freeman while Taylor Johnson dished out 18 assists and led with eight digs. The Pirates will take on P2BL champion Forks in an elimination game on Wednesday night in Raymond.
To even guarantee another game, Adna held on to beat the Hyaks 24-26, 25-11, 20-25, 25-17, 15-9 earlier in the day. It was a new lineup on the court with injuries and other instances which has hampered consistency.
The Pirates also had a new lineup in the quarters.
“It is just experience and trying to play ahead of the game instead of reacting to the game,” Dotson said. “Different people in different roles.”
Freeman recorded 18 kills in the pigtail and Johnson registered 30 assists and 11 digs. Adna libero Hadleigh Gerard finished with 13 kills plus six players served up multiple aces.
“They are capable,” Dotson said. “Not play passive I think is the key.”
For Onalaska, it gets Toutle Lake in the semifinals on Wednesday in Adna. The league meeting was a sweep and only one set saw the Ducks get to 20 points.
The entirety of the fall featured Onalaska getting everyone’s best shot. Gordon knows that won’t change now that the winners side of the bracket is all C2BL rivals.
“It would make anybody’s day to take a set (on us) and what everybody is gunning for is us,” she said. “We talk about it all the time. Pull it together and play our game.”
