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46 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, November 25, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 21, 2004 SOU wins thriller for fourth straight regional crown By JOE ZAVALA for the Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Jaclyn Hamilton-Smith whirled around and clinched her fists as tears welled up in her eyes. Her teammates leaped, almost in unison, then mashed together in a screaming frenzy. Meanwhile, Southern Oregon head volleyball coach Paul Elliott silently watched the entire scene, expressionless but not emotionless. "It was just a great amount of pride for both teams," he later said of his reaction. "You know, a lot of times you get in those matches and one team doesn’t reach their potential because they try to do too much. I thought both teams played well, they did what they wanted to do and played the way they wanted to play and that’s why you get a match like that." Southern fought off two Northwest match points to pull out a 24-30, 33-31, 30-23, 26-30, 17-15 thriller Saturday at McNeal Pavilion and capture its fourth straight Region I tournament championship. The victory, which Elliott labeled the best in his 14 years at SOU, also secures SOU’s fourth straight trip to the NAIA National Championships, Dec. 1-4 in San Diego. "This is our fourth time here, so we knew that when it came down to it, we’re the ones who had the experience, we can handle the pressure," said SOU senior setter Jamie McCreary, who dished out 61 assists. "We just stayed aggressive, that was the biggest thing. We knew that the most aggressive team would win, so we stayed aggressive and we stayed confident in our team." Advertisement While the first four games had their moments, it was the epic Game 5 that made the match an instant classic. Twice, Northwest (22-8) had 21st-ranked SOU on the ropes and both times the Raiders (26-6) clawed their way back behind the clutch play of two unlikely heroes. First, sophomore outside hitter Rachael Baran had two kills and a block to spearhead a 7-0 SOU run that turned a 9-6 deficit into a 13-9 lead. Then, Hamilton-Smith, the fabulous freshman from Sheldon High, uncorked two monster kills, the first saving SOU’s season and the second extending it. The No. 5-seeded Eagles looked in prime position for the upset as it abused SOU’s block en route to the three-point lead. The top-seeded Raiders answered with their best run of the day, but Northwest didn’t flinch. Instead the Eagles used a five-point run of their own to earn their first match point at 14-13. On the ensuing point, McCreary set up junior middle blocker Nicholette Le Bel on the left side. Le Bel, who had 16 kills and four blocks, smashed the ball through two Northwest blockers for the tie. The Eagles quickly grabbed the momentum right back and earned their final match point on a kill by Emily Marquez, who led all hitters with 23 kills on 61 swings. With the season on the line, the Raiders this time turned to the 5-foot-11 Hamilton-Smith. McCreary’s set was perfect and Hamilton-Smith (11 kills) crushed it to the floor, tying the match at 15. Another Baran block gave SOU its first match point. With crowd on its feet, McCreary went to the well again and again Hamilton-Smith delivered, this time with another crushing blow that somehow streaked past two potential blockers and hit the hardwood in the heart of Northwest’s defense. "It gave me all the confidence in the world knowing that my team and my coaches and my All-American setter has the confidence to set me," Hamilton-Smith said. "I was definitely nervous. I didn’t even want to swing, but I had to and I knew that that was the only way. So I swung hoping that it would go in and luckily it did." While Hamilton-Smith and Baran carried the Raiders in Game 5, it was McCreary, Le Bel, senior outside hitter Kristin Ferris and junior libero Kristen Lilly who put the Raiders in position to win in the first place. Ferris had a team-high 20 kills and 28 digs a day after becoming the first Raider to accumulate over 400 kills and 400 digs in the same season. Lilly got up a team-high 30 digs, including several of the diving variety, breaking SOU’s all-time single season dig record in the process. "And this was supposed to be a so-called rebuilding year," Elliott quipped. Northwest’s Dayna Casseday led everyone with 39 digs. SOU narrowly avoided a two-games-to-none deficit and created the first swing of momentum at the end of Game 2. After Northwest blew a game point on a contact violation, the Raiders scored three of the next four points to tie the match. That momentum carried into Game 3, which SOU controlled from beginning to end. The Cascade Conference rivals went back-and-forth in Game 4 until Northwest used a 4-1 rally to take a 19-16 lead — its first decent separation since early in Game 2. SOU didn’t lead again until Le Bel walloped home a spike to give the Raiders the first point of Game 5. Despite the fact that SOU struggled all day to contain Northwest’s high-flying attack, the two teams finished in a statistical dead heat. The Eagles finished with 79 kills on 269 swings (.167), while the Raiders had 82 kills on 263 attacks (also .167). Both teams had 122 digs. SOU made up some ground in the serving department. The Raiders had four aces and three service errors, while the Eagles had five and eight, respectively. Now the Raiders will try to transfer their regional success into wins at the national level. The previous three trips have been bitter-sweet for SOU. The Raiders have gained some upsets, but have yet to advance beyond the pool play round. "I think (our chances) are pretty good," Ferris said. "We just beat Carroll (Friday), who’s ranked 13th, so I really think we’re up there. It’s just going to be a matter of us bringing our game and seeing what happens." Elliott agreed, but added that a lot will ride on where the seeding committee places the Raiders. "I think we’re going to do really well," he said. "We’ve got to try to get a draw that isn’t like the last few years, but we’re (ranked) 21st coming in so we’re probably going to be ranked a little lower. Although, they know who we are and they know that we’ve surprised people before so we’ll see what they do with us. "We need to get into the elite eight for sure and see where we go from there." Cross Country NAIA CHAMPIONSHIPS — At Louisville, Ky., senior Sean Peterson earned All-American status with a 27th-place effort to lead the Southern Oregon University cross country team to a 12th-place finish at the NAIA Championships. Peterson, a three-year all-star from Clackamas and a Cascade Conference champion on the Raider track team, clocked a 25:31.60 on the 8K Cardinal Park course in a field of 259 racers. Junior Ryan Pfeil (27th, 26:10), junior Jon Zehe (93rd, 26:36), freshman Joe Rath (146th, 27:12) and junior Travor Palmer (154th, 27:18) rounded out Southern’s top five in what was the school’s first team berth to nationals in 15 years. On the women’s side, junior Brynn Cogdill missed repeating as an All-American by 39 seconds with a 77th-place, 19:26.60 effort on the 5K course. Freshman Kindra Buys finished 161st among 258 runners with a 20:08. NAIA Championships At Louisville, Ky. Men SOU finishers — 26, Sean Peterson, 25:31; 56, Ryan Pfeil, 26:10; 93, Jon Zehe, 26:36; 148, Joe Rath, 27:12; 154, Trevor Palmer, 27:18; 229, Scott Becker, 28:21; 247, Kyle Gillette, 29:25. Women SOU finishers — 77, Brynn Cogdill, 19:26; 161, Kindra Buys, 20:08. Wrestling BEST OF THE WEST OPEN — Rich Vigorito was the lone Southern Oregon University wrestler to claim a title at the Best of the West Open at the Jackson County Expo. Vigorito won the 157-pound championship with a 5-3 victory, while teammate Jimmy Grochowski was pinned in his finals match. The University of Oregon had a solid turnout with three individual wins. Shane Webster won the 174-pound title, while teammates Scott Barker (197) and Joey Bracamonte (165) also picked up wins. The second-year 14-mat tournament had been previously held on the SOU campus before moving to the Jackson County Expo last year. Saturday’s Results FINALS 125 — Hochstrasser d. Stevenson, 8-2; 133 — Graham d. Norman, 13-12; 141 — Lockett pinned Hardy; 149 — Sherfey d. Garcia, 4-1; 157 — Vigorito d. Hartzell, 5-3; 165 — Bracamonte pinned Grochowski, 2:58; 174 — Webster d. Rhoden, 14-2; 184 — Pitsch d. McBee, 12-3; 197 — Barker pinned Patrick, 1:12; 285 — co-champions, Rakevich and Waterson. THIRD-FOURTH 125 — Lucas d. Hedges, 6-4; 133 — Pearch d. Psennings, 3-2; 141 — Pipperberg d. Harris, 7-3; 149 — Stover d. Yarborogh, 9-5; 157 — Nunez d. Case, 9-8; 165 — Wright d. Erickson, 14-6; 174 — Larsen d. Davis, 5-2; 184 — Edmondsen d. O’Brien, no score reported; 197 — Garner d. Callestad, 6-1. Note — First names and schools were not available at press time. Joe Zavala is sports editor of the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at 482-3456. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities