Tough exit for Saints

Last Saturday, the Mt. Hood volleyball season came to a screeching halt with a loss to Southwestern Oregon in a play-in game to make the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) championship tournament, an ending sooner than any Saint would have liked.

SW Oregon defeated MHCC in a four-set match (21-25, 25-19, 25-11, 25-20). The Saints started off strong with a victory in the first set, but the Lakers were too much to handle om taking the next three, including a dominating 25-11 third-set victory.

In her final game at Mt. Hood, sophomore setter Shea Lindsey provided 27 sets for the Saints. Freshman outside hitter Jessica Pedro contributed 13 kills; sophomore libero Kiana Miller added 10 defensive digs.

Coach Andrew Clifton discussed the Saints’ finale: “We won the first one. Second one, they got to a pretty big lead, pulled it back together towards the end. Third game they got off to a big lead again, fourth game was close throughout.

“Kind of the same things that have happened before,” he added. “(We) went in with a game plan and played well, kind of got pushed a little bit, and just didn’t deal with the recovery.”

The Saints finished the year at 13-29 overall, 3-7 in league play. It was quite a transition from the high-flying years under former coach Chelsie Speer, when the Saints captured or shared five straight South Region titles and won the 2011 NWAC championship.

Clifton, completing his first season as Mt. Hood coach, took a look back. “It was a learning experience. I think that like most seasons it had its up and downs and I think at the end we all learned a lot about ourselves as athletes and as a team,” he said. “We had higher goals for ourselves, but in the process of trying to reach those goals we grew as individuals.”

Sophomore setter Rachel Woodcock, who played her last game in a Saints uniform, gave her thoughts on the year.

“It sucks that we didn’t reach our goal of making NWACs, but we did reach a lot of other goals along the way and I got to spend my last season here at Mt. Hood with a great group of girls and coaching staff,” she said.

Clifton hasn’t let the season go, quite yet. “I am excited for what’s coming in the future, but it’s still kind of early. I’m still reflecting on this season,” he said. “So, I haven’t quite just switched over. It takes awhile to reflect on your season. Reflect on what went right, what went wrong, what changes could the team make.”

Yes, the season did not unfold as many might have expected but there is a lot of promise for the future. The Saints will return many of this year’s freshmen next year, meaning there will be a lot of veteran leadership for incoming players. Mt. Hood has the opportunity to make a big push in the NWAC once again, next year.