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Ashland downs North
By KRIS HENRY In a matchup of mirror-image volleyball teams, North Medford was left envious of the reflection put off by Ashland on Thursday night. Both entered the match 2-2 overall and 2-1 in Southern Oregon Conference play. Neither was interested in giving ground to the other in an early test of conference powers. In the end, the Grizzlies simply were too much for North Medford to handle as Ashland earned a 15-11, 11-15, 15-5 road victory. "We wanted this match really bad but they definitely outplayed us by far," said North senior Beth Rathburn. "Their offense was a lot quicker than ours was and we just couldn't stay in our spots." Neither team has been able to establish an identity thus far this season, causing concern for both coaches heading into Thursday's match. Ashland's players supplied an answer for Grizz coach Josh Rohlfing as the road team turned a 4-3 deficit into an 8-4 lead behind the serving of Kacey Zundel. "That really gave us something to work with," Ashland senior Molly Grossmann said of the early 5-0 run. "We knew that even if they got a sideout, we could come back and get a sideout and not be hurt by it." North Medford (2-3, 2-2 SOC) closed the gap to 13-11 in the first game but was finally undone when Tiffany Talbott's serves proved unreturnable in closing out the opener. Unfortunately for the Black Tornado, that struggle with receiving serves and passing was a foreshadowing of things to come. North hospitably handed over 13 points in Game 1 on unforced errors and 11 in the pivotal third game to ease Ashland's burden. "We were scoring too many points for them," said North coach Ron Beick. "You're just not going to beat anybody that way. When you do that, you just shoot yourself in the foot." The Grizzlies (3-2, 3-1 SOC) returned the favor in Game 2, shipping eight points to North via unforced errors. Chaley Higgins was a one-woman wrecking crew in the second game, making her presence known on the final four points to break an 11-all tie. Higgins and Candace Fleener teamed to score a point after blocking an effort by Ashland's Stefani Talbott, then Fleener fed Higgins for three straight kills to send the match into a third game. After taking a 4-2 lead, North hit a wall in the final game and opened the door for the Grizzlies, who were more than willing to walk right through. "We had a lot of confidence going into the third game because we're all in really good condition at this time of the season," said Grossmann. "We just have a lot of confidence in ourselves and in each other, no matter who is out on the floor." Ashland slowly chipped away, then stretched its advantage with three straight service points by Tiffany Talbott to make it 9-4. Megan Beugli picked up where Talbott left off, boosting the Grizz advantage to 14-4 when North's serve-receive broke down at the most inopportune time. Fittingly, Ashland scored its final point when miscommunication on Tessa Maurer's serve left two Tornado players lunging for a last-gasp effort to get the ball over the net. "I'm not really sure what happened in that game," said Rathburn. "It wasn't a lack of focus or lack of intensity. We did a good job with serve-receive at South (on Tuesday) but we kind of faded tonight. Our communication was a little off." Forcing some of that disruption was the steady play of Grossmann at setter for Ashland and the strong play of Marla Morin in the middle and outside hitters Kacey Zundel, Ashley Fence and Maurer. "Marla was a force in the middle for us and Molly distributed the ball to everyone really well," said Rohlfing. "Molly's just very, very technically sound and strategically sound." With Grossmann sporting 20 assists and Morin six kills and five blocks, the duo also earned high praise from Beick. "I thought (Grossmann) did a really good job of keeping the ball to their primary hitters," said the North coach. "I also thought (Morin) did a really good job of stabilizing them when they started to struggle. She didn't do anything flashy but she was consistent enough to keep them going." Higgins had a team-high eight kills for North, while Amy Bakker had seven kills and tied Tara Siebenlist with 10 digs. Fleener had 22 assists for the Tornado. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail khenry@mailtribune.com |
