PLEASANT HILL – Go bonkers, Billies backers!
The 2024 Class 3A Volleyball State Championship began this week, and Pleasant Hill – by virtue of winning the District 4 title Saturday – solidified its hold on the No. 1 seed at state.
The Billies’ first match is at home on Saturday, Nov. 2 against the Horizon Christian-Sisters winner. If it wins that match, Pleasant Hill (26-1) faces either 8th-seeded Cascade Christian or 9th-seeded Westside Christian. On Oct. 18, Westside Christian handed the Billies their lone defeat this season.
P-Hill coach Jessica Crawford said she believes at least a half-dozen teams are a legitimate threat to win the state title.
“I haven’t seen them all, but I’ve seen quite a variety of the top 10 or 15 teams, and they’re all good,” Crawford said. “All we can do is take them one match at a time, and then hope we go to Marshfield.”
The semifinals and finals will be in Marshfield on Nov. 8 and 9.
Creswell was also looking to advance through the same 3A tournament – albeit on the other side of the bracket from its main rival, Pleasant Hill. The Bulldogs, seeded 14th, played a first-round game at home Wednesday, Oct. 30 against 19th-seeded Vale. The winner of that match plays at No. 3 Santiam Christian on Saturday, Nov. 2.
“We were going to have to travel anyway,” Creswell coach Anna Baltrusch said after the Bulldogs lost to Sisters in Saturday’s district match. “If we drop a couple of spots, we could be hosting a home game next Wednesday and that could put us in a more favorable spot in the bracket. So we’ll let the volleyball gods decide.”
The Bulldogs got that Wednesday home game, just as Baltrusch predicted.
Sisters advanced into the district final against Pleasant Hill, where the Billies rolled to a 25-12, 25-16, 25-1 victory.
Sisters jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the final set.
“They gave us a good run there in the third set,” Crawford said. “It was nice to see us control the pace and play slow with tempo.”
