Volleyball on the brink

This past weekend, the Saints hosted their annual Dorian Harris Halloween Classic in the Mt. Hood gymnasium – where teams and fans were dressed in costume, but meant serious business on the hardwood.

Out of 10 teams participating, Mt. Hood had a great showing, finishing in third place overall. The Saints defeated Wenatchee Valley (25-16, 25-13, 25-23) on Friday, Oct. 30, before topping Umpqua (25-16, 25-23, 25-23) and Walla Walla (16-25, 25-23, 15-10) on Oct. 31.  Their first loss came against Treasure Valley (17-25, 25-21, 25-16, 21-25, 15-12) on Friday and Clackamas beat the Saints (25-18, 25-8, 25-10) to move on to the championship game for a second straight year. The Cougars would take second place, falling to tournament champion Linn-Benton.

According to Saints head coach Andrew Clifton, it was quite exciting for his squad to beat Walla Walla (10-3 in the East Region, 26-18 overall), given that the Warriors are coached by Chelsie Speer, who previously coached the Saints for five years before Clifton arrived in 2014. He was pleased with his team’s effort and third-place finish, highlighting a marked improvement in team play over the last few weeks.  “I didn’t even think about it at first, to tell you the truth, but I finally got a chance to really talk with Chelsie,” said Clifton. “This year was all my own kids that I recruited. With this win, it just goes to show how tough the South Region is.”

A big congratulations goes to 5-foot-7 freshman setter Erin Perry, who was named one of the NWAC Players of the Week for her performance over the weekend.  “Erin came up big for us in the tournament with some big serving runs and kept defenses on their toes by a consistent offense and ran plays to free up her hitters as well,” said Clifton.

Returning to action on Wednesday, the Saints took on Clark College (6-5 in the South, 19-14 overall) in Vancouver, but came back home empty-handed after dropping the match (25-15, 25-23, 28-26).  Sophomore Samantha Douglas, at 5 feet, 10 inches, led the Saints with nine kills, while freshman Hanna Snyder, a 6-foot-2 redshirt freshman, had seven kills in the losing effort.  Clark was led by 5-foot-9 sophomore Janessa Mast, who led both sides with 13 kills from the outside hitter position.

With just two matches remaining on the schedule, the Saints are clawing and scratching for position in the NWAC championship tournament, which takes place in Tacoma, Wash., on Nov. 19-22.

After going 2-0 to start the regular season with victories over Southwestern Oregon and Umpqua, the Saints started slowly slipping in the South Region. They now find themselves with a record of 3-7 in conference play, and 11-20 overall, good for seventh place out of the eight-team region. The top four teams from all four regions will compete in the NWAC tournament and for the second year in a row, the Saints’ season is likely to end early after high hopes of making the NWAC’s version of the Big Dance.

The Saints’ only other victory in the South came against arch-rival Clackamas, back on Oct. 9.  Since then, the team has dropped four matches in a row in the South, but are looking to end the season on a high note.  Clifton thinks his team has a good chance of beating Clackamas (3-6 in the South, 22-19 overall) again tonight in the Mt. Hood gymnasium. The match is slated for 6 p.m.

The Saints then finish the regular season Tuesday with another home match against the South-leading and likely No. 1 overall championship seed, Chemeketa (9-0 in the South, and 33-2 overall). This match is also scheduled for 6 p.m., and what a showing it would be if the Saints find a way to topple the region’s best team to close out the year.

“The only way it’s going to feel good is if we beat (Chemeketa),” said Clifton. “What does it really mean if we don’t beat them and aren’t headed to the tournament?”