The Lady Bulldogs opened volleyball preseason play in late Aug., and are 3-2 after besting host Douglas 3-0 on Sept. 6, host Dayton 3-0 on Aug. 30 and visiting Oregon Episcopal School 3-2 on Aug. 23; falling, however, 0-3 to visiting Cascade Christian on Aug. 27 and 2-3 to visiting Blanchet Catholic on Aug. 23.
Bailey Howell’s 15 kills and three aces led Creswell past Douglas: 25-16, 25-21 and 32-30.
“Douglas started school two weeks ago and were 5-0, so we knew they were probably going to be pretty good, and their gym was full,” said Creswell Head Coach Anna Baltrusch. “We had great ball control, but we let up a little too much once we knew we could beat them, and that third set was pretty exciting.”
Breanna Dapron, who moved from middle to outside hitter, added 11 kills and 10 digs, while Kylee Whitson, who moved from outside to middle, added five kills, three stuff blocks and two aces.
Libero Jane Marquess had nine digs and two aces. Sarah Lanz added two aces.
“I was really pleased with the lineup changes, and we served them really tough – a lot of kids had at least one ace,” Baltrusch said.
Jenessa Mallory provided 18 assists and Howell provided 11.
In the previous week’s action, Dapron’s 11 kills led Creswell past Dayton: 25-18, 25-13 and 25-19. Howell added nine kills and provided nine assists. Marquess had 14 digs and seven aces, Whitson had two stuff blocks and Mallory provided 15 assists.
“We played really well and didn’t given them much chance,” Baltrusch said.
The Lady Dawgs suffered self-confidence issues in their 19-25, 13-25 and 13-25 loss to Cascade Christian.
“We had a lot of mental breakdowns, but it was a good game in bringing to light some things that needed to change,” Baltrusch said, noting that the resulting lineup adjustments are now working well.
Dapron had four kills and a stuff block; Whitson had three kills, seven digs and two aces; Howell had three kills and Mallory provided seven assists.
“We’re looking forward to playing them again with our new confidence and lineup,” Baltrusch said.
During a three-way match against Blanchet Catholic and Oregon Episcopal School, Creswell fell to Blanchet 25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 12-25 and 11-15. “We beat them the first two games, but then Bailey got hurt in the third game,” forcing lineup changes, Baltrusch said.
As middle hitters, Dapron had 17 kills; Whitson had 11 kills, 23 digs and a stuff block; Marquess had 16 digs; Macy Waller had a stuff block; Mallory had 17 assists and three aces; and Howell provided 12 assists.
Creswell downed OES 22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-20 and 15-8. With just three varsity-only practices under their belts, “We were pretty rusty in our first outing of the season,” Baltrusch said. “We got off to a pretty rough start, but it was good that we came back and won.”
Whitson paced Creswell with 19 kills and 20 digs. Howell had 14 kills, 19 digs and 24 assists; Dapron had 14 kills and a stuff block; Marquess scooped 18 digs; and Mallory provided 19 assists.
This week, the Lady Dawgs travel to Marshfield for a three-way contest that includes North Valley.