Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels October 26, 2004 Grizzlies break SOC tie By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings South Medford must have thought they had the edge when the team elected to take the first-match bye in Monday afternoon's round-robin tiebreaker for state playoff seeding with Ashland and North Medford. Ashland High junior Jessica Walters runs through a student-made tunnel after the Grizzlies beat South Medford to clinch the No. 2 seed from the Southern Oregon Conference, Monday at Mountain Avenue Gym. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings Because the Panthers had a better record against the two other schools that tied for second place in the SOC, South got first choice. A bye or home-court advantage? When the Panthers wanted to sit out the early match, the Grizzlies got to choose the venue for the matches. "Just playing at home is so much more comfortable," Grizz senior Lindsey Stone said. "Our team is just on fire when we're at home." North Medford felt the Ashland burn first, taking a 25-13, 25-21, 22-25, 25-18 beating at Mountain Avenue Gym in the first of three matches that determined the seeding order of the second, third and fourth place SOC teams in the state playoffs. Roseburg clinched the No. 1 seed during the regular season. In the second match, the Panthers hoped they could capitalize on Ashland's fatigue and take down the home team. But, between the crowd and the playoff incentive - the No. 2 seed earns home-court advantage in the opening round of the state playoffs - the Grizzlies were unstoppable, winning 25-19, 24-26, 25-14, 25-8. "I think that our team really pulled together tonight," Grizz sophomore Sarah Holgen said. "We wanted tonight so bad. We really put it all out there." The double-victory gives Ashland the No. 2 seed out of the SOC and one last showdown at home on Saturday for a berth in the state tournament in Portland. The Grizzlies will host South Salem, the No. 2 team from the Valley League. I think that's a boost for us," Grizz head coach Josh Rohlfing said. "It's going to be just fantastic for us." Grizz-ly Pow-er! In the opening match, Ashland beat North for the third time in three weeks to set up a pressure-packed contest against the still-fresh South Medford team. In the last meeting between the two teams, the Panthers took the Grizzlies to five games and won 17-15 in the fifth. This time, it wasn't that close. Ashland broke away from the Panthers midway through the first game with a 12-2 run that gave the Grizzlies to a 20-10 lead. Although South made a late run, the Panthers couldn't break the momentum Ashland had built by winning the first match and Ashland nabbed Game 1. "It's a double-edged sword," Panther head coach Adam Wagman said. "We get the bye, but Ashland gets fired up on all cylinders." Still, the fatigue of playing two key matches in under five hours got to the Ashland players in Game 2. "Coming into today it didn't make me nervous," Rohlfing said. "We play in a lot of tournaments so we should be used to it, but the energy level dropped off." In Game 2, the Grizzlies battled back from four and five-point deficits, eventually knotting the contest at 24 when Rohlfing put sophomore outside hitter Emily Oswald in to serve. On South's game point, Oswald's short serve caught the edge of the net and slipped down onto the Panther side of the court. But South wasn't through. With back-to-back kills from Peggy Thompson and Jennifer Mendenhall, the Panthers evened the match at 1-all. "It started over," Rohlfing said. "We'd gained nothing, we'd lost nothing." It looked like South had lost something, though. The Panthers mustered just 22 points in the last two games, while the Grizzlies used the energy from the crowd to blow past South and into second place. "We just didn't play to the level they're capable of playing," Wagman said. "It still doesn't mean at some point we can step it up." The leaders Senior outside hitter Jessica Walters paced the Grizzlies with seven aces, four kills and 21 digs in the South match. Holgen had a team-high 13 kills and added two blocks and four digs. Senior setter Lindsey Stone had 32 assists. In the first match, Walters had a well-rounded 16 kills, three blocks, 20 digs and an ace. Holgen recorded eight kills and 15 digs, while Stone had 34 assists, 14 digs and two blocks. North Medford senior outside hitter Jessica Durham led all players with 20 kills. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams