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North loses to Roseburg in playoff By GREG STILES North Medford's volleyball team started out like world-beaters, then finished Saturday night beating itself as Roseburg left town with a victory and a home match when the Class 4A state playoffs begin Monday. The teams tied for third place in the Southern Oregon Conference, necessitating the playoff to see who would stay home and host a second-round match Monday and who would have to travel to North Bend and need to win twice to stay alive. The Black Tornado laid it to Roseburg in the first game before self-destructing as the Indians gained a 6-15, 15-12, 15-5 victory. "Until recently we hadn't beat someone soundly," North Medford coach Ron Beick said. "After the first game we let up and lost our edge. It wasn't until it was 11-2 that we got going again. Kids that haven't played as much have to go through the hurt of giving up games when they're in control. "I told the girls if we can get on top of somebody we need to be sharper in the second game and not be complacent." The loss sends the Tornado on the road to North Bend, where it will play Silverton, the Pac-8 No. 4 team, at 4 p.m. The winner will face North Bend at 7 p.m. The Indians await the Marshfield-Tigard winner in the second game of a doubleheader at Roseburg. "We didn't have anything left for the third game which again was disappointing. But it was kind of a freebie. I told the girls that either of the draws is about the same." Megan Morley, limited to two kills in the first game, finished the night with 14 kills in 30 attacks. "Megan's quickness gives us a lot of different things we can do with her," said Roseburg coach Bruce Myers. Junior Randi Slone helped turn the match around in Roseburg's favor, serving five points to start the second game. "She's our best server," Myers said. "She doesn't serve that hard, but there is a lot of movement and she places the ball very, very well." Slone helped shred North's two-person receive, with poor passing leading to setting and attack woes. Roseburg setter Julie Dancer also kept the Tornado off balance. "We do a lot of tips when the right and middle go to block, they leave their left front open," Dancer said. "We had a lot of good passes, so it really opened up our offense. (North Medford) played really good defense when we played down here last time and we couldn't get hits off their blocks." North jumped out to leads of 5-0 and 8-1 in the first game, allowing the Indians consecutive points once. "I thought in the first game that Jill Carrigan palyed extremely well and Kendra Mitchell had a good game in the middle," Beick said. "But we weren't nearly as effective in the other two games." Only after Roseburg took an 11-2 lead in the second game did the Tornado make a move. North trailed 11-4 when Kara Hwang stepped to the service line and reeled off seven straight points to tie it. North was poised for the sweep, but Shannon Burmeister's kill halted the Tornado's momentum and it never reappeared. "We certainly took ourselves out of our offense and the primary cause was our serve-receive passing," Beick said. Slone served up two points with Morley notching kills to make it 13-11. Burmeister, who finished with six kills, made it 14-12 and then Morley served the final point to force a third game. Roseburg led 3-1 when Dancer served the Indians to a 7-1 advantage. Four rotations later, Stephanie Nicklason served the final six points as Katie Kahn notched two kills and combined with Burmeister for a stuff block to end the match. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.