The Rainier High School volleyball team built on the momentum sparked from its Adna Invitational championship win with a sweep of Central 2B League foe Toutle Lake 25-18, 25-21, 25-20 Tuesday, Oct. 15.
The Mountaineers played with relentless energy and joy against the Ducks, areas that head coach Carrie Ooms said were lacking in last week’s match against Toledo, and Toutle Lake couldn’t slow down the Rainier train.
Ooms said the rejuvenated Mountaineers had a similar level of energy Tuesday night as they did in the Adna tournament, but their spotty communication hurt them at times against the Ducks.
“Our communication [in the tournament] was amazing, better than it was tonight. We had some rocky spots today, but those are things that we can work out before next week,” Ooms said.
Rainier took some time to wake up in the first set as Toutle Lake exposed some of the Mountaineers’ gaps on defense and forced communication errors. After a brief 3-2 lead, Rainier trailed for most of the set before retaking the lead thanks to a burst from Anika Plowman and sloppy play from the Ducks.
The Mountaineers closed out the set by scoring 11 of the final 14 points after once trailing 15-14. Rainier’s snooze to start the second set was even more extensive than the first, but the girls’ flurry to draw even was quicker than the first. Ooms yelled for her team to “shake it off now” after falling behind 10-4, and Rainier dusted off the poor start behind kills from a bevy of Mountaineers to tie the score at 11.
The seesaw continued late in the second, but a pair of aces by Brooklynn Swenson and kills by Acacia Murphy led Rainier to a 25-21 victory in the frame. Plowman continued her strong play in the set, including a one-on-one block that impressed her head coach.
“That was great for her,” Ooms said of Plowman’s block. “She’s grown quite a bit. She’s learned how to read the hitters better so she can block better.”
With a 2-0 set lead, the Mountaineers didn’t find themselves needing to crawl out of their slumber to start the third set as they did in the previous two. Effective serves from Swenson and Janess Blackburn and powerful offense by Allyson Ooms and Annabelle Whiteman guided Rainier to an early 11-5 lead before Toutle Lake tied it with six unanswered points.
The Mountaineers had to overcome more communication issues in the third as multiple Toutle Lake serves went unreturned due to the lack of “I got it” calls on the court. Once those were mostly cleaned up, Rainier cruised the rest of the way.
On the match point, freshman Ellie Pringle capped off the night with an ace, and she was barraged by her teammates who celebrated the youngster’s big moment.
“That was great. Normally when freshmen are on varsity and they go in, you can see the nervousness, and she just doesn’t show that,” Carrie Ooms said of Pringle. “She has the mindset of, ‘I can do it.’ She goes up there and I’m not nervous when she goes to serve.”
Murphy led the way with a dozen kills and three blocks, while Blackburn contributed 10 kills, 13 digs and two blocks. Allyson Ooms recorded 14 digs and nine kills. Brooklynn Swenson and Katelyn Eckroth racked up the assists with 22 and 13, respectively.
Rainier's improved energy began with the Adna Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 12, when the Mountaineers lost early to Adna in pool play before defeating Mossyrock in three sets and the Pirates in the finals in three sets. While the competition does not count in the win-loss column, the victories over league opponents served as a midseason confidence boost for the Mountaineers.
"We played amazing in our tournament. We came out from the first game strong, which is not usually like us. Normally, we take a little time to wake up in the morning, and we didn't," Ooms said. "I especially saw last weekend. That's what helped them win the finals. They relaxed, they enjoyed playing, and they were very successful."
Rainier (10-2, 3-1 C2BL) defeated Toutle Lake for the second time this season after winning in four sets on the road on Sept. 24. The Mountaineers will visit Winlock (1-11, 0-4 C2BL), a team that has yet to win a set in its four league matches, on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.
