Naselle drops first league volleyball match at RaymondRAYMOND – After winning two non-league volleyball matches in a row, the Naselle Comets lost their Pacific 2B League opener to the Raymond Seagulls in a match played in Raymond Thursday, Sept. 20. The 2-2 Comets won one game but lost the other three in losing the match to the Gulls 1-3. The game scores were 23-25, 25-20, 23-25 and 14-25.

“The girls just came out flat and didn’t recover,” said Naselle coach

Kim Eaton. “We had the lead several times but couldn’t keep it.

“It was a reality check for the girls and that hopefully they now know that they cannot play a game without the support of the entire team.”

The Comets were led by their three seniors. Sylvia Herrold had 10 kills, Brandi Keightley had five kills and Ashley Ahlstrom was credited with a good all around game by coach Eaton.

The Comets are at Northwest Christian in Lacey for a league match this Thursday, Sept. 27.

Naselle JVs play in JV volleyball tourneySOUTH BEND – The Naselle JVs played in the South Bend JV Tourney on Saturday, Sept. 22. In Pool Play, games were played to a 15-minute time limit or a game score of 25. The Comets finished with a 3-6 record in pool play. That record put the Comets into the Consolation Bracket with these results: North Beach 25 – Naselle 16, Naselle 25 – North Beach 19, and North Beach 15 – Naselle 7.

Rhiana Jacot, JV Coach, said, “Today we learned what we can achieve when we play together as a team. Lindsay O’Kelley showed fantastic improvement in her blocking while the team as a whole improved in every area. I really enjoyed watching them play today.”

Rotation call costly as Lady Fishermen drop tilt at RochesterILWACO – “We should have won,” Ilwaco coach Candy Johnson said. “We were ahead by five points in the second game when the Rochester scorekeeper said we were out of rotation, which we were not. And they took four of those five points away from us, and it made us lose. The whole momentum changed. It was very frustrating.”

Ilwaco lost their second Trico League contest of the season 3-0 to the Warriors last Tuesday. The Lady Fishermen had lost a nail-biter in game one by the closest of margins, 25-23, were not able to sustain their momentum after “the call” and were edged 25-21 in the second game and then lost the third game 25-18. Rochester evens its league mark at 1-1 with the win and is 1-3 overall while Ilwaco drops to 0-4 for the year and they are 0-2 in league play.

“It’s a shame we lost tonight because we played the best volleyball of the past two seasons. Our passing was awesome, we covered the court well, and we served well,” Johnson praised. Marin McDonnell had served two points to put Ilwaco up 18-16. Rochester lost a side out to make the count 19-16 in favor of the Lady Fishermen, and Melany Bliss served two more points to hand the visitors a 21-16 edge. Unfortunately the inexperienced Rochester scorekeeper put Bliss’s points on McDonnell’s line and the officials took all four of the points off the board and handed the Warriors a point. The five-score turnaround negated the 21-16 lead and gave Rochester a 17-17 tie.

The coach had rave reviews for Bliss, as well. “Melany served 16 points, had six kills, and helped us a lot at the net. Samantha Millner played outside hitter and she slammed the two hardest kills of the night. She was dynamite at the net,” Johnson related. Senior Courtney Gilgore missed the contest due to family committments.

Sydney Ward, Theresa Goodwin, Kate Denton and Alexa Wirkkala all came off the bench to help fill the void. “Our reserves are playing with more confidence,” Johnson stated. “We hope to get (Rochester) when they come to our gym.”

The Warrior JVs won the first two games 25-23 and 25-21 and Ilwaco took the exhibition third contest 15-13. Coach Linda Raaymakers praised Tasia Cain, McKenzie Stockfleth and Alexa Ferguson for their improved serving. The Ilwaco JV squad is now 1-3.