Saints volleyball shows resilience in tournament victory

Take nothing for granted.

That’s the mindset of the Mt. Hood Saints volleyball team as they prepare for the NWAACC Championships Nov. 17-21. The Saints are still making adjustments despite their number one position seat in the Southern region.

The team, which head coach Chelsie Speer refers to as one of the most athletically talented teams she’s ever coached, continues to push the boundaries of its talent at every match.

The Saints showed this focus and commitment when they were thrown a curveball on their own court in the Dorian Harris Classic tournament at Mt. Hood Community College Oct. 28-29 — and still found a way to win the championship.

With a team dropping out of the tournament, the MHCC alumni team filled in on day one, which resulted in the Saints playing back-to-back matches against former Saints volleyball standouts that included former players Kynsi Stout, Ali Salsgiver and Terin Filaroski.

Match one put the Saints intense conditioning to the test with the back and forth play stretching the match to five games. The Saints took the first two games, (25-23,25-21) but the alumni won the second two games (16-25,23-25). Game five was a fight from the start but the Saints squeaked by 16-14 for the match victory.

In match two, the Saints faced the alumni again, this time sweeping the match in straight games (25-22,25-17,25-23). Still, nothing was taken for granted. “We still have things that we can get better at,” Speer said Thursday. “It’s important that we are never getting complacent.”

On Oct. 29, the Saints played three matches, including two Southern Region NWAACC-qualifying teams. First were region-rivals the Clackamas Cougars, who sit third in the Southern Region. The Cougars fell to the Saints in straight games (25-22,25-22,25-12).

In match two, the Saints faced a tough regional team, the Linn-Benton Roadrunners, who hold the number two spot in the South, and who the Saints lost to twice earlier in the season. But in meeting number four between the two teams, the Saints pulled out the victory, as they had in meeting three, sweeping the Roadrunners in three games (25-17,25-8,25-12).

In the championship match, the Saints faced the second-place team from the Northern region, the Shoreline Dolphins, and were severely tested. As in previous matches when the Saints have dropped game one, the match stretched to a grind-out five game match. The Saints, dropped game one 18-25, then alternated winning games with the Dolphins. Game two went to the Saints 25-22, game three to the Dolphins 23-25 which pushed the Saints to rally in games four and five (25-14,15-13) en route to the championship.

The five game fight and tournament victory doesn’t come as a surprise to head coach Speer, who prepares her team by putting consequences on drills in practice.

“This is the first team to constantly keep me on my toes,” said Speer, “Every time I come up with drills, it will challenge them for a little while and they will get it down. But our practices have helped with those five-game matches. The girls are showing resilience when down or when tested,” said Speer who added,

“One-hundred percent attitude and effort every single day are the only things in life you can control. You can’t control another team but, you have control of those things at all times.”

Today the Saints will face region-rival the Clackamas Cougars at home at 7 p.m.