Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Pirates prepped for big match after home win
By Scott J. Adams, Sports Writer
Tuesday, October 09, 2007 | No comments posted.
COOS BAY — With the first half of the MidwesternLeague season wrapped up, Marshfield coach Tammie Montiel’s Pirates are where they want to be — alone in first place.
On Monday, the Bucs wrapped up a perfect 5-0 start with a win in three sets over Willamette, 25-11, 25-14, 25-7, at Pirate Palace.
“This was our goal starting out — to have an undefeated season and be league champs,” Montiel said. “We’re well on our way to that now. This kind of sets the tone for us for the other half of the league season.”
Marshfield lived up to its billing as one of the league’s hardest-hitting clubs with a combined offensive effort from Ali Worthen, Nicole Zyta and Jessica Hockema, who totaled 28 kills. Worthen led the way with her game-high 16, while Zyta and Hockema both had 6. Worthen also had 11 digs.
“They have a lot of options,” Willamette’s first-year coach Brian Wodke said. “We’re a young team, so it’s hard for us to compete with teams like Marshfield, but we hope to be executing at their level by season’s end.”
Marshfield appeared fundamentally sound Monday while showing no sign of looking ahead to Wednesday’s crucial showdown at Thurston, the defending league champion. The Bucs will try for a series sweep against the Colts after winning the first meeting in four sets at home.
“I think we’re going to be ready for them,” Montiel said. “It’s a big match for us. We need to work on our blocking and serving right now. Both have gotten better since then, but we still need to improve.”
The Pirates jumped out to big leads in each set Monday and were scarcely threatened by the visiting Wolverines (0-5). Marshfield got by comfortably with a well-coordinated blend of soft passing and finesse hitting.
“We weren’t as aggressive as we usually are at times. We wanted to work on some of our plays we’re going to use against tougher teams,” said Zyta, a 5-foot-7 right-side hitter. “I think we did pretty well with that tonight.”
After building a 19-9 lead in Game 1 with three kills from Hockema and nine service points from Brittney Young, the Pirates closed on a 6-1 scoring run, setting the tone for an equally-impressive Game 2. Marshfield opened the second set on a 6-2 run with the help of aces from Worthen and Leslie Silver. Willamette answered with four of the next five points to make it 7-6. The Wolverines’ Sam Brundidge landed one of her four kills during that stretch.
Marshfield responded quickly as sophomore Nikki Gross drove home five straight service points, pushing the Bucs’ lead to 12-6.
Gross, a 5-foot-6 setter, finished with 15 assists and 13 digs.
“They battled back in that second set, but we stayed focused; got a couple of the next points and then went on another run,” Montiel said. “I was proud of the girls for playing hard the entire game and not having mental lapses.”
After a sideout by Willamette left the score at 15-9, Marshfield pulled ahead 19-10 when Gross and Worthen connected for a second kill in the span of five points. Silver later fed Worthen for another kill, and Melanie Stout spiked in a pair of shots to make it game point, 24-14. Hockema ended the set with an unassisted kill.
“Everyone did their part tonight. It was a good team win for us,” said Hockema, a 5-foot-11 right-side hitter.
Unlike the first two sets, Marshfield relied more on defense to coast through Game 3. Willamette was held to two kills in the final set as Worthen tallied two of her 11 digs while Jessica Ott added three and Gross two.
The Wolverines made their final stand with an ace by Brundidge that cut Marshfield’s lead to 7-5. After that, Marshfield ran away on a 15-2 run. Zyta and Hockema highlighted that stretch with three kills apiece. Hockema added two blocks.
“They’re a tough team to keep up with,” Wodke said. “Marshfield is a good team to learn from.”
The Wolverines got two blocks, one assist and one kill from 5-foot-10 middle blocker Chardonnay Edmond. Leah Mortensen and Cheney McKenzie had four digs apiece for Willamette, which visits North Eugene on Wednesday.
Marshfield plays Thurston that same night at 7 p.m.
“Right now, we’re the team to beat in league. We couldn’t be in a better spot,” said Zyta, who added three assists and one block to her score total Monday. “We’re excited to play Thurston now. It’s going to be a good game for us.”
On Monday, the Bucs wrapped up a perfect 5-0 start with a win in three sets over Willamette, 25-11, 25-14, 25-7, at Pirate Palace.
“This was our goal starting out — to have an undefeated season and be league champs,” Montiel said. “We’re well on our way to that now. This kind of sets the tone for us for the other half of the league season.”
Marshfield lived up to its billing as one of the league’s hardest-hitting clubs with a combined offensive effort from Ali Worthen, Nicole Zyta and Jessica Hockema, who totaled 28 kills. Worthen led the way with her game-high 16, while Zyta and Hockema both had 6. Worthen also had 11 digs.
“They have a lot of options,” Willamette’s first-year coach Brian Wodke said. “We’re a young team, so it’s hard for us to compete with teams like Marshfield, but we hope to be executing at their level by season’s end.”
Marshfield appeared fundamentally sound Monday while showing no sign of looking ahead to Wednesday’s crucial showdown at Thurston, the defending league champion. The Bucs will try for a series sweep against the Colts after winning the first meeting in four sets at home.
“I think we’re going to be ready for them,” Montiel said. “It’s a big match for us. We need to work on our blocking and serving right now. Both have gotten better since then, but we still need to improve.”
The Pirates jumped out to big leads in each set Monday and were scarcely threatened by the visiting Wolverines (0-5). Marshfield got by comfortably with a well-coordinated blend of soft passing and finesse hitting.
“We weren’t as aggressive as we usually are at times. We wanted to work on some of our plays we’re going to use against tougher teams,” said Zyta, a 5-foot-7 right-side hitter. “I think we did pretty well with that tonight.”
After building a 19-9 lead in Game 1 with three kills from Hockema and nine service points from Brittney Young, the Pirates closed on a 6-1 scoring run, setting the tone for an equally-impressive Game 2. Marshfield opened the second set on a 6-2 run with the help of aces from Worthen and Leslie Silver. Willamette answered with four of the next five points to make it 7-6. The Wolverines’ Sam Brundidge landed one of her four kills during that stretch.
Marshfield responded quickly as sophomore Nikki Gross drove home five straight service points, pushing the Bucs’ lead to 12-6.
Gross, a 5-foot-6 setter, finished with 15 assists and 13 digs.
“They battled back in that second set, but we stayed focused; got a couple of the next points and then went on another run,” Montiel said. “I was proud of the girls for playing hard the entire game and not having mental lapses.”
After a sideout by Willamette left the score at 15-9, Marshfield pulled ahead 19-10 when Gross and Worthen connected for a second kill in the span of five points. Silver later fed Worthen for another kill, and Melanie Stout spiked in a pair of shots to make it game point, 24-14. Hockema ended the set with an unassisted kill.
“Everyone did their part tonight. It was a good team win for us,” said Hockema, a 5-foot-11 right-side hitter.
Unlike the first two sets, Marshfield relied more on defense to coast through Game 3. Willamette was held to two kills in the final set as Worthen tallied two of her 11 digs while Jessica Ott added three and Gross two.
The Wolverines made their final stand with an ace by Brundidge that cut Marshfield’s lead to 7-5. After that, Marshfield ran away on a 15-2 run. Zyta and Hockema highlighted that stretch with three kills apiece. Hockema added two blocks.
“They’re a tough team to keep up with,” Wodke said. “Marshfield is a good team to learn from.”
The Wolverines got two blocks, one assist and one kill from 5-foot-10 middle blocker Chardonnay Edmond. Leah Mortensen and Cheney McKenzie had four digs apiece for Willamette, which visits North Eugene on Wednesday.
Marshfield plays Thurston that same night at 7 p.m.
“Right now, we’re the team to beat in league. We couldn’t be in a better spot,” said Zyta, who added three assists and one block to her score total Monday. “We’re excited to play Thurston now. It’s going to be a good game for us.”
The comments below are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Not already registered?
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines