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Doren has Panthers goin� in win over Grizz By Greg Stiles Carrie Doren craned her neck like a batter waiting to see if the long shot stays fair or curls foul. As the South Medford middle hitter watched the volleyball splat soundly in Ashland territory, she slapped her hands with delight and rushed towards her teammates. Doren�s 10th kill of the night put the finishing touches on a 15-7, 15-8 Southern Oregon Conference victory and the Panthers� first win over the Grizzlies since the schools began playing in 1986. "It was kind of a lob and I didn�t know if it was going to make it in," Doren said. "But that�s all that matters." The loss ended Ashland�s 18-match SOC win streak. The Grizzlies last loss was on Oct. 15, 1998 to North Medford. It might just be the first of 14 SOC matches, but South Medford coach Jerry Hagstrom said the victory validated what the Panthers thought before the season. "We thought we had a shot tonight," said Hagstrom. "We were a little surprised by where we were picked to finish (fifth) by the coaches. We made a statement tonight. " South was also motivated by a listless performance against the Grizzlies in last Saturday�s jamboree at Ashland. "They spanked us Saturday," Hagstrom said. "But we weren�t going to back down." Kellie Thomas, South�s other middle, tacked on eight kills and outside hitter Karla Zenz knocked down seven more. "We had awesome passes and the middle only works if the passes are right on," Thomas said. "And (setter) Megan Barry�s sets were on target." Neither team could get on a roll the first time through the rotation. But the Panthers began making progress when senior Sara Friend stepped to the service line and stretched a one-point advantage to 7-4. Soon Barry and Zenz added their two points to the spurts and the Panthers were looking at game-point. But Kacey Zundel stuffed Doren�s attack to momentarily derail the Panthers. But Doren followed with a kill and Friend served up the final point. "After the first game, we had a lot of momentum," Doren said. "Everybody was on fire." The same couldn�t be said for the Grizzlies. "It�s back to the drawing board," Ashland coach Josh Rohlfing said. "We�re going to have to evaluate where we are at. There were a lot of selfish people out there worrying about themselves instead of thinking about the team. But it�s just a setback and we�ll get better." Rohlfing knew the Grizzlies might go through some growing pains after losing two-thirds of his state semifinal lineup to graduation. "Our defense was the worst I�ve coached," he said. "There was too much thinking and not enough reacting." Ashland showed some life in the second game, taking a 7-3 advantage. But Crystal Glover notched a pair of aces to pull the Panthers within 7-6. Three servers later, Thomas drilled a kill to make it 7-7 and Zenz recorded an ace to put the Panthers up for good. Then with Thomas serving, South reeled off six straight points, punctuated by Doren�s stuff of Heidi Lawrence�s attack and Doren teaming up with sophomore Beth Mueller to stuff Leslea Brown. The Grizzlies staved off the inevitable when Lawrence recorded a kill to end the evening�s longest rally. But two more kills by Doren finished off South Medford�s historic night. "This is a big deal," Zenz said. "We have nine seniors and we figure this is our year to get it done." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA