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TUESDAY November 25, 2003 - Subscribe - Contact Us Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels Grizzlies bite back, beat North By JOE ZAVALA Ashland Daily Tidings MEDFORD - The crowd gasped, one team slumped and the other danced. Ashland High senior Emily Stone had to fight back tears - and she was on the winning team. It was that kind of night Tuesday at the North Medford High gym, where the fifth-ranked Ashland Grizzlies made their stand against the fourth-ranked Black Tornado and pulled out a triple-comeback deluxe, in a Southern Oregon Conference clash of the titans that surpassed even the hype. The Grizzlies won 17-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 15-8 to improve to 7-1 in the SOC, tied for first in the standings with Roseburg, while North Medford, which entered the match 2-0 against Ashland this season, fell to third place at 6-2. Those were the stakes, but the match seemed to take on greater meaning for both teams as a fifth and deciding game began to look inevitable. Emotions ran high after the Grizzlies evened the match with a clutch Game 4 finish, then Ashland quickly fell behind 5-2 in the fifth and appeared ready to call it a night. That's when AHS coach Josh Rohlfing called a timeout, in a last-ditch effort to rescue his team's dwindling league championship hopes. "We were talking about taking our momentum back and putting it down their throats," Ashland senior middle Kristina Voskes said of the huddle. "I was so ready for that." So were the rest of the Grizzlies. Ashland came out of the timeout and immediately worked the ball to senior outside Corey Van Landingham, who unleashed a kill that started the Grizzlies on a 5-0 run. Senior outside Chelsea Van Lehn's back row kill put Ashland up for good at 8-7 and kicked off an 8-1 match-clinching rally. Four of those points were won on Ashland kills, as the Grizzlies saved their best for last. Black Tornado senior middle Stephanie Jensen spiked the ball five feet long on Ashland's first match-point. The Grizzlies celebrated with a pile-up a World Series champion would be proud of. "You know," said Stone, her eyes glossing over, "we lost to them in tournament play this weekend and Josh (Rohlfing) said at the beginning of the game, 'If you win tonight, you will celebrate and own this court,' and oh my gosh. "My team, I love them. They played with so much heart. Every single one of them stepped up when they needed to do their job. We finished. It was one of the first games we learned how to finish and it was just unbelievable. I'm so overwhelmed with joy." "It feels amazing," added Grizz senior outside Chey Hale, who played her best match of the season and finished with a team-high 16 kills, three aces, 13 digs and two stuff blocks. "We wanted it really bad. We wanted it even more that we lost at our home to them, so it feels really good. It's the best I've felt in a while." Hale led a balanced Grizz attack that produced over 50 kills against a North defense considered one of the state's best. Van Lehn and Van Landingham added 12 kills apiece and senior middle Erika Boehnke chipped in six kills. Stone, a defensive specialist, had a team-high 18 digs while Van Landingham came up with 14, and sophomore Lindsey Stone (27) and senior Kate Morris (20) combined to dish out 47 assists. "I think we played as a team," Rohlfing said, "that was a big part of it. We didn't play as a bunch of individuals. Usually, when we get down on ourselves, each person gets down on themselves and tonight, I felt like when we had a hard time or got pushed, that we relied on each other and helped each other and pulled each other up and just said, 'Hey, we're going to make this next pass.'" That wasn't easy, especially in the early going against North's jump-serving Jessica Walters. The 5-foot-10 wrecking ball finished with 12 kills and eight aces, including three in the first game, when the Black Tornado went on a 12-1 run to snatch the early momentum. The Grizzlies came back, using a late 9-4 run sparked by a Van Lehn tip kill to grab Game 2. North Medford (13-3 overall) swung the momentum right back, however, scoring eight of the last 10 points to stun Ashland in Game 3. Walters' vicious spike through Ashland's block clinched it, and North sailed into the fourth game riding high after having overcome a 22-17 deficit. But Ashland had two more comebacks up its sleeve. First, the Grizzlies fought off a late 5-1 North rally to take Game 4 on Jensen's serving error. Then came the epic Game 5 rally that finally finished the Black Tornado. Hale came up Ashland's final two kills, as the Grizzlies won the last five points of the match. "I was thinking about this game all day, so I was ready to do it," she said. After a service error by North's Laura Tarkon gave the ball back to Ashland, Hale dumped a perfectly placed tip to put the Grizzlies up 12-8. Her 16th kill in 35 hitting attempts two points later made it 14-8 and forced North to come up with a miracle. When the Black Tornado couldn't, Ashland had pulled off what Rohlfing called one of the biggest wins in his seven years at the helm. "You know, this is as emotional as I've been in years and it was fun," he said. "It was fantastic and you know, the great thing about it was that we kept our cool throughout the match." Rohlfing said coming back from the collapse in Game 3 was inspiring. Emily Stone said it was just a matter of time. "There was a point there where we said, 'We're not losing.'" she said. "It was a decision that the team made. There's just a different feeling on the court. Everyone stepped up, started to do their job and it was, 'Oh, we're almost there.' "But then it was finally, 'We own this. We got it.'" DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved .:Advertisements:. What do you think of the new site? Let us know!