CRESWELL — The Creswell volleyball team entered Wednesday’s home playoff match expecting another sweep in front of its home crowd. Instead, the No. 25 Warrenton Warriors upset the No. 13 Bulldogs 3-2, ending the Bulldogs’ season — and their postseason hopes — in abrupt fashion.
“When you get to playoffs, any team can beat any team,” said head coach Anna Baltrusch. “I’ve seen lots of teams lose that shouldn’t have lost. Like we really shouldn’t have lost, too. But at the same time, missing the serves and everybody playing in different positions didn’t make it easier.”
In an attempt to fill in star setter Teighlor Nunez’s vacancy, the Bulldogs had to adjust to new positions for this game. Hence, the Bulldogs struggled with confusion and a sense of misalignment that caused self-inflicted mistakes.
But along with the general hesitancy from the new lineup shuffle, most of all, the Bulldogs had another emotional undercurrent present: worry for their teammate.
Only just a couple days back Nunez had suffered a concussion, which impacted her ability to play.
“Instead of practicing on Monday, we all went to the hospital to visit her,” said Baltrusch. “So it was a rough couple of days even going into this game. We were hoping to win so Teighlor could play on Saturday… and I hated just telling her she wouldn’t be able to play anyway.”
Nunez has had a tumultuous senior season. This is her second injury of the year after she rolled her ankle in the preseason.
So it was Rylee Cline who decided to fill in her shoes as setter on Wednesday, delivering 40 assists and 4 aces.
“Rylee did fantastic for someone who had not set all year and just coming out and setting,” Baltrusch. “She had a few snafus here and there, but at the same time, she looked like she was the regular setter.”
The Bulldogs commanded the first two sets, but then lost the drive on the third; No. 4 Rylee Cline was the setter for the game. ALL PHOTOS BY ADON ECCLES / THE CHRONICLE
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs opened the match looking like their usual selves — steady, composed and in full command through the first two sets.
But the Warriors entered the third set with a new chip on their shoulder and took a last-minute rally of 25-20. In additon, Creswell’s serving mistakes hurt them in the third set.
They improved it in the fourth but by then, the damage had been done.
Along with mistakes, Baltrusch said that the sudden extinguish was due to her more youthful and inexperienced players struggling to pace themselves and maintain consistency, which has been a pattern the entire season.
“They did the best they could and they fought,” said Baltrusch. “But we’ve been going up and down all year — where we do great and then we don’t do great — and that just has to do with a lot of inexperience that we have on our team. Mentally and emotionally, when things don’t go well, that affects the younger kids the most. But a big thing in what we were missing was the first serve. Misssing the first serve is death — and we missed three of them in a row.”
Piper Hanson, the newly crowned Mountain Valley Conference Player of The Year, led the Bulldogs with 36 kills, hitting .210 on 105 attempts, while also adding 6 aces and 16 digs. Following was Marley Query, who contributed 12 kills, 13 errors on 42 swings, with 2 aces, 13 digs, and 1 assist.
End of the 2025 season
Despite the Bulldogs’ loss, Baltrusch did validate that the team has great potential in the future seasons with no shortage of talent. They just need more experience to bring them to the next level.
“Most of these kids hadn’t played in the state playoffs before,” she said. “You’ve got to get used to that intensity, and for the most part, I thought they really handled it pretty well.”
Now with the sun set on the Bulldogs’ season, Baltrusch said what she appreciated the most about the 2025 season is the passionate sense of community and family the team has displayed. She said it’s a distinct quality in the 2025 team and that she hasn’t seen this level of unity in coaching in years.
“This team cared about each other more than any I’ve had,” said Baltrusch. “They prayed before every game. I’ve never had a team do that. They did it on their own, no encouragement from me or anybody. I was really moved by the fact that they did it every game. They really supported each other and were really good at caring about each other and always focusing on being a family. And I love that about this team — they said family was their goal.”
