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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels October 8, 2004 South slides past Grizzlies By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings MEDFORD - One great comeback was trumped by another. The first saved the Grizzlies and the second stunned them. Ashland's Lindsey stone sets for a teammate during the fourth game of the Grizzlies' five-game match against South. Ashland won Game four 25-21, but ending up losing the match 3-2. Andrew Mariman | Ashland Daily Tidings In a match that left both teams gasping for air, the Ashland High volleyball squad fought off four match points in Game 3 then earned one of its own in Game 5 before finally relenting. South Medford snared the final three points of the match to pull off a heart-clenching Southern Oregon Conference win, 25-22, 25-15, 24-26, 21-25, 17-15, Thursday night at the South Medford High gym. "Well, I'm really proud of my team," said Grizzly outside hitter Jessica Walters, who led everyone with 20 kills and four aces. "They put out an amazing effort with heart and everything and just went for it. I think both teams played just phenomenal and it could have gone either way." After somehow escaping a 24-20 deficit in the third game, the Grizzlies got consecutive kills out of Walters in Game 5 to take a 15-14 lead. Facing what would have been a devastating defeat, Panthers' outside hitter Marissa Towry dropped a tip kill smack dab on the right sideline to tie the score. Towry followed with a monster kill block of a Walters' spike and the Panthers clinched the match on Peggy Thompson's untouched blast to the left corner. "I was extremely proud of Peggy because she went up to win the match," South Medford head coach Adam Wagman said. "She didn't go up to not make a mistake and that's something we've really been trying to preach." The win improved the Panthers to 7-3 in the SOC, while the Grizzlies fell to 6-4. With four league matches yet to be played, third-place South holds a one-game lead over the fourth-place Grizzlies. Ashland's dramatic come-from-behind effort nearly made up for the team's horrendous start. The Grizzlies struggled in every way possible - hitting, serving and especially passing - through the first 2 1/2 games. South took a 24-20 lead on one of Jennifer Mendenhall's team-high 15 kills, and Ashland head coach Josh Rohlfing was already thinking about what to tell his team after the would-be blowout. Then something happened. Walters, held in check up to that point, muscled home a crosscourt blast to make it 24-21, returning the serve to the Grizzlies' side. Walters then stepped behind the service stripe and steered five straight over the net - one went as an ace and the other four points were captured by the Grizzlies on two Panther errors, a block and a kill by Sarah Holgen. Holgen's rip capped possibly the best, and certainly most dramatic, point of the season for Ashland. With the game tied at 24, South's defense went to the floor several times to keep the rally going. At one point, a Holgen spike from left to right skimmed across the tape before finally trickling over to South's side. The Panthers got it back up, however, but succumbed moments later when Holgen's sharply-angled dagger proved too hot to handle. "I'm totally disappointed to come out and begin like we did, but we showed fire," said Ashland setter Lindsey Stone, who led everyone with 38 assists. Ashland fell behind again in Game 4, but used a 4-0 run to go up 22-17. The Panthers scored the next four to make it close, but Maddison Thivierge's kill, Lindsey Stone's tip to the floor and Emily Osvold's diving dig wrapped it up for the Grizzlies. Rohlfing subbed in Osvold at the start of the Game 3 rally and later said her entrance gave the Grizzlies a huge lift. "She stepped up and was just nails tonight," he said. The best was yet to come, as Game 5 provided even more fireworks courtesy of a Grizzly offense that was suddenly firing on all cylinders. South took an 11-8 lead on Towry's ace and a 13-11 lead on Holgen's serving error. Ashland refused to go down quietly though, scoring the next two points to tie it and then two of the next three to earn its one and only match point. What happened next cost the Grizzlies a valuable league win. Rohlfing hopes it will serve as a lesson. "We got a good character-builder, we got some pride, we showed some heart and as a coach that's what you want to see," he said. "If they can do that every night - show that pride and show that heart - we'd be undefeated right now." 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