TOLEDO — Early in the fourth set against Napavine, Toledo trailed by four. Already down one set, the Riverhawks needed to rally to force a fifth if they wanted to leave with a victory.
They did just that on Thursday night in their league opener, as the Riverhawks forced a fifth and won it to complete an 18-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-23, 15-13 comeback win.
“It means so much,” Toledo coach Kelli Larson said. “A lot of the things we’ve been working on, to see them bring it into the game, it was awesome.”
Toledo’s offense funneled through their outside hitters, and the Riverhawks were able to have a lot of success there over the course of the game.
Ellie Fallon tallied 24 kills, Abby Umbriaco added 13, and Taysia Miller logged six. Setter Sidney Kruger finished the game with 49 assists.
“We just couldn’t slow down their outside hit,” Napavine coach Monica Dailey said. “We were just really late on that outside. And they did a really good job feeding their outsides the ball. Credit to them.”
When the Tigers were able to time the block well, it often either split the two blockers or deflected off of them and went out of play.
The momentum didn’t truly swing into Toledo’s favor until Set 4, as the Tigers handedly took two of the first three sets of the game. Napavine ended the first set on a 14-7 run, and followed that up by going on an 18-9 run to end the third.
“I felt like we gave ourselves quite a bit of hitting opportunities,” Dailey said.
Lillian Blair, Emily Kang, MaKayla Brett, and Lilly Grabianowski were all perfect from the service line, while Kang and Grabianowski added 16 digs each.
Kennedy Purvis finished with 19 kills and 18 digs, while Jessie McCoy logged 27 assists, eight kills, and four block kills. Nicholle Valentine also tallied nine kills.
“They’re right there,” Dailey said. “We just make dumb mistakes at inopportune times. And it’s costing us.”
The Tigers (4-5, 0-1 C2BL) will have the chance to bounce back at home on Tuesday against Toutle Lake, a team that they beat in four sets in non-league play.
“We definitely will have to be ready to play,” Dailey said.
The Riverhawks pounced on the opportunities they were given late, and their block got better as the game went along. Mila Jones finished with a team-high five blocks, while Kruger and Miller both added three.
The win was especially nice for Toledo because of the way it lost to Morton-White Pass in its non-league finale on Tuesday. In the four-set loss to the T-Wolves, Larson said that they beat themselves by not playing up to their ability.
“This was wonderful to follow up with,” Larson said. “I hope this brings that confidence through the teams we are about to face.”
After a non-league game on Saturday in Ilwaco, Toledo (3-5, 1-0 C2BL) will hit the road to face Onalaska and Rainier next week.
Larson knows the road next week will be tough, but she is also cautiously optimistic about the Riverhawks’ chances.
“If we can play like this,” Larson said. “It will hopefully be a battle.”
