Busy volleyball week preps Lady Dawgs for state hunt

The Creswell Lady Bulldogs bested host Pleasant Hill 25-10, 25-9, 25-18 on Oct. 11 in their only league volleyball match of the week. The Lady Dawgs also defeated host Taft, 25-19, 25-7 and 25-9 in a non league contest on Oct. 9, and competed in the Marshfield Tournament on Oct. 13.
At Taft, Kylee Whitson had 13 kills, Breanna Dapron had six digs and Jenessa Mallory provided 22 assists. Bailey Howell had six aces and Jane Marquess had three.
“In the second set, Jane also served 15 points,” noted Head Coach Anna Baltrusch. “We served them really tough.
At Pleasant Hill, Dapron had 19 kills; Macy Waller had five right-side kills; Howell had 12 kills, nine digs and four aces; Marquess had 11 digs and two aces; and Mallory had 10 digs and 26 assists.
“We mixed it up — we were setting the middle, outside and right side that game. That made it fun,” Baltrusch said.
At Marshfield, the Lady Dawgs won their pool after beating Siuslaw, 25-20 and 25-19; splitting with Astoria, 25-19 and 22-25; and beating Reedsport, 25-17 and 25-17.
Dapron had 13 kills and 12 digs against Siuslaw. Howell had nine kills, Mallory had 17 assists and three aces, and freshman Emme Whitson had seven digs.
“Siuslaw’s a pretty good team with some big, good players, but we served them off the court,” Baltrusch said. “Everybody had aces, and we only missed three serves.”
Dapron had eight kills and 13 digs against Astoria. “She’s been playing the back row really well,” Baltrusch said.
Howell had eight kills and Mallory had 15 assists.
“Astoria’s defense was really good,” Baltrusch said.
There were few kills against “really scrappy” Reedsport: “We scored mostly off really long rallies that ended with them making a mistake,” Baltrusch said. “They weren’t hammering the ball really hard at us, but they played great defense.”
Kylee Whitson had five kills, Dapron had seven digs, Mallory had seven assists, Kailee Cooper had five aces and Howell had two aces.
In the quarterfinals, Creswell defeated Douglas 25-17 and 25-13. Dapron had eight kills, Howell had seven kills and three aces, Kylee Whitson had three stuff blocks and Mallory provided 11 assists.
“It was a good game; we played really well,” Baltrusch said. “We missed a couple of serves but still served them tough.”
In the semifinals, Creswell fell 21-25 and 22-25 to 6A Grants Pass, who had beaten 4A Cottage Grove 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
“We thought we were going to get killed, but the girls hung with them and played them tough,” Baltrusch said, adding that the Lady Dawgs had hoped to play Cottage Grove in the semis. “We were bummed that didn’t happen,” she said.
Dapron had seven kills and two aces, Howell had six kills, Sarah Lanz had six digs, Kylee Whitson had two stuff blocks, and Mallory had two stuff blocks and 13 assists.
“I was really pleased with how well my kids played in the tournament,” Baltrusch said.
Second in league at 5-1 and currently ranked ninth in 3A state, Creswell hosts second-ranked Santiam Christian and travels to eighth-ranked Harrisburg this week as the battle for the league’s two state playoff spots heats up.
“If we beat SC we’ll tie for first place; then if we each win our next game we’ll have a true tie and we’ll play off at a neutral site on Oct. 23 to decide first and second (seed),” Baltrusch said. “I think we have a pretty good matchup with SC to beat them; it’s just going to be whoever shows up ready to play and who wants it more.”