Saints victory brings hope of playoffs

After two big wins in a row the Saints lost Wednesday to undefeated Linn-Benton (34-0 on the season) in four hard-fought sets.

But those  two wins, Oct. 21 – 22, boosted them into  the tight race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the NWAC South Division.

On Oct. 21, the Saints hosted their annual “Dig Pink” night against the Southwestern Oregon Community College Lakers. The night stands for breast cancer awareness, as all the team wears pink jerseys.

Mt. Hood entered the game 1-6 in NWAC South play, and 12-20 overall. The Lakers entered 3-4 in division play, 15-12 overall. This game represented the start of the second half of the season, and the opportunity for Mt. Hood to turn it around.

The first set started out tight, with the Saints leading 10-7. SWOCC then scored 10 straight points, before Mt. Hood scored four in a row. The score now 17-14, the Lakers took control and ran away with the final eight points. The Saints scored just once more in the 25-15 loss.

Mt. Hood outside hitter Hannah Spears had this to say about the first set: “We weren’t communicating out there, and it lead to a lot of mistakes. My passing was struggling that set.”

Saints setter Erin Perry explained how they entered the second set differently. “We came out a lot looser. We focused on communicating and having fun,” she said. The game plan worked, because the Saints battled a tight set and won 28-26. The set’s biggest moment of drama with Mt. Hood leading, 19-18. A Laker shot went out of bounds on the Saints’ side near Perry, but she didn’t seem to touch it. The refs disagreed and awarded the point to Southwestern. Saints head coach Kimberly Lissinna was shocked by the call and came out to argue. The call was not overturned and the game was tied at 20-20.

After the match Perry insisted, “It didn’t touch me, I was confused when they gave the point to Southwestern.”

The call would inspire Mt. Hood. “At that moment we were so angry at the call, that we used it to win,” said Spears, who came up with the final two kills to win the set.

Set 3 was similar, staying close all the way through, and the Saints pulled out a 25-21 victory. Again, it was Spears with the final kill to close the set. Perry said, “After the third set we knew we were going to win the match. We felt really good and were playing extremely loose.”

The fourth set was the quickest, as the Saints won in much less dramatic fashion, 25-14.  They held an early 9-3 lead, then ran it up to 20-12 and never looked back, to win the match, 3 sets to 1.

Perry was crucial on the day with 44 assists. Ashlyn Huntington and  Elisha Levasa both came up with 12 kills and Spears had 10. Courtney Smith led the team with 15 digs.

It’s just the Saints second division win, but it came at a crucial time, and could be exactly what the Saints need to get going in the second helf. Spears said, “We feel more confident as a team now and we feel good about how we’re going to finish the season.”

The Saints also defeated Umpqua in Gresham on Saturday afternoon, taking the match 3-2. As of Tuesday, Mt. Hood is 3-6 in the NWAC South, tied for fifth with Southwest and Umpqua.

Mt. Hood now sits just a game behind fourth-place Clackamas, and the final playoff slot, with three matches remaining in the season.

The Saints face off against Clackamas on Nov. 3. The series is split at one a piece so in the case of a tie, the Nov. 3 match could be the deciding factor.