Taft Volleyball Opens Season with Win over Colton
Katie McCardell spikes the ball during Taft's win over Colton Thursday. The Taft volleyball team won its first head-to-head match in four years Thursday, taking down the Colton Vikings in a non-league game. (Photo by Larry Coonrod)
By Larry Coonrod
LINCOLN CITY—An ace by Kelsey Wilkinson finished the fourth set for the Tigers Thursday, giving the team its first head-to-head match win in four years.
“It’s good to start the year with that monkey off our back,” said Coach Frank Napoleon.
It was the first non-league match win for the teams’ three seniors and one junior. Napoleon credited the players for sticking with the program through tough times.
“They were determined to get better and some of them put a lot of extra work in this summer to get better,” he said. “The seniors are the ones who really stepped up and helped us get through this.”
New Defense
The Tigers downed the Vikings in four sets: 25-20, 24-26, 25-15 and 25-22.
Napoleon said first game jitters and a new defense that is still a work in progress gave the Vikings a chance to take the second set and stay close in the fourth.
“We got scored upon a couple of times when we were out of position because they are not used to playing this defense, but I think the more we practice it will get better,” he said.
Taft got its mojo back in the third set, going from a 0-6 deficit to blow past Colton in a 25-15 win.
“It’s amazing how one or two plays can affect the team,” Napoleon said.
League Tune-Up
The non-league match against Colton and another at Elmira Sept. 2 are a warm up to Taft’s opening league game at Willamina on Sept. 4.
With the Labor Day Weekend limiting practice time, the Tigers plan to focus on the new defense and serving.
“Our serving has been the part we got to work on,” Napoleon said. “From my calculation, we only served 78 to 80 percent and that’s not where we need to be. We need to be in the high 90s.”
Strong Blocking
On the plus side, Napoleon thought the team blocked well, with seven stop blocks.
Four Tigers notched four or more kills:
- Katie McCardell-12
- Kelsey Wilkinson-7
- Kendra Knudson-6
- BillyAnn Stempel-4
New League Taft moved from the 4A Oregon West League to the 3A-2 West Valley League this year. Napoleon expects the competition to be just as tough as that the Tigers have faced in the past.
“We have Santiam Christian, Horizon Christian, Westside Christian, Willamina, Sheridan and Dayton, and those schools have a good reputation for volleyball,” he said. “Santiam Christian has won state so many times it’s unbelievable. So it will be a tough league but I think if we keep practicing and working hard we’ll do better.”
JV Girls Open Season with Win
The Tigers JV volleyball team opened its season Thursday by racking up a win in two sets. The JV Vikings fell in two sets 25-17 and 25-17 to the Tigers.
It marked an impressive comeback for the JV program, which didn’t have enough players to field a team last year.
“I have an amazing group of girls who have been working so hard,” said JV Coach Vicki Roller. “They have been conditioning, passing and setting, hours and hours in the gym, and tonight it all came together.”
Roller said a couple of her players had never touched a volleyball before practice began this month.
JV stats:
McKenzie Evenson with 5 kills and 3 assists.
Maya Hatton led in serving with 5 aces, 3 kills and 7 assists.
Lovetie Musick added 5 aces.
Taft Varsity Schedule for the week of Aug. 31
Tuesday-Sept. 2 - 6 p.m. at Elmira
Thursday-Sept. 4 -5:30 p.m. at Willamina.
Contact Reporter Larry Coonrod by emailing editor@lincolncountydispatch.com
