ILWACO – Sometimes the smallest of hits has the largest impact and such was the case on White Salmon’s final point of the match, a soft lob just over the net and just out of the reach of the Lady Fishermen defenders to give the visitors a 25-23 win in game three.

That victory, added to lop-sided wins in the first two contests, earned the Bruins the match at 3-0. The match was the first Trico League tilt for both squads. Coach Candy Johnson had mixed reactions following the fray. She told her team, “You came back really well in the last game, but you have to be ready to play the first two. You looked frustrated at times and were tense to begin with. You have to relax, keep a positive attitude, and get ready to play right from the start, and that begins by working hard in warmups.”

The opening game was tied at 6-6 when the Bruins went on a 14-5 run in route to an easy 25-14 win. One problem was that Ilwaco missed five serves in each of the three games and with rally scoring that is a total of 15 unanswered points for the opponents.

The second game was a near carbon copy of the first as Ilwaco was within 9-10 and then the Bruins rattled off a 12-1 run and won handily 25-15. They continued the momentum into the third contest, going up 6-0 on the strength of four service aces from Christiane Duniphin. It was then that the Lady Fishermen finally came alive.

Erin McDonnell had one of her game-high four kills and also served an ace to help bring Ilwaco to a 17-17 tie. Alexa Wirkkala, playing her first significant minutes as a varsity volleyball athlete, served a pair of aces to put the Lady Fishermen up 19-17. First Charlotte Johnson and then Courtney Gilgore made heroic saves on the next play, but in the end White Salmon’s Ericka Ziegler put away one of her six kills on the evening to give the Bruins a pivotal point. White Salmon later tied the score at 21-21, went up 23-21, and a dink from Carah Concienne proved to be the game winner as it floated just over the net and landed just inside the opposite sideline to make the score 25-23.  

Gilgore said, “We showed a lot of spirit in the third game, but we need to start stronger.” Erin McDonnell added, “We need to work on our passing and on talking out there. I need to do better at telling someone if the ball is out or not. We all need to communicate more.”

Johnson had praise for Wirkkala, saying, “Alexa started the third game and did a great job of serving, playing in the back row, and being strong at the net. She gave us a real spark.” Statistically Ilwaco’s 15 missed serves to 10 by the Bruins was critical, as was the 17-8 edge the visitors had in the kill department. Both teams had four blocks, but White Salmon served 18 aces to only eight for Ilwaco.

Wirkkala led the squad with four aces, Erin McDonnell was tops with four kills, Melany Bliss had two blocks and Johnson led with six assists.

Coach Johnson reminded her squad, “You have to practice harder and more seriously. They didn’t beat us tonight, we beat ourselves.” White Salmon is the only team Ilwaco has defeated in the past two seasons. The Lady Fishermen are now 0-3 on the year and the Bruins are 0-1 as they have not played any non-league contests thus far.

The White Salmon JV team won the first two games 25-19 and 25-17 before Brittnee Pattison led Ilwaco to a nail-biting 16-14 win in the final exhibition contest.