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On Saturday afternoon, the College of the Rockies women’s volleyball team found itself down 21-15 in the fourth set.
Instead of allowing the University of Fraser Valley side get four points and call it a day, the Avalanche took a timeout and came back determined to make a stand.
Head coach Lisa Ramsey said she used that break to implore her athletes to stop playing carefully.
“You’re not going to win if you’re just cautious, so go out, serve harder and hit harder. If we do that, they get in trouble and we capitalize on their mistakes,” she said. “This is a better bunch of athletes than I’ve had in the past because they’re actually able to do it.”
Tonia Bunnah got on a role, putting nine serves in a row in play and the home side found itself up 24-21; they wound up forcing a fifth set with a 25-23 win.
The much younger Avalanche dropped the deciding set 15-12, but it didn’t feel like a loss.
“It’s so nice, because most of that team is five-year players and four-year players,” said Avalanche rookie Stephanie Barker, who had a breakout match with 12 kills and three blocks.
“Most of our team consists of first-year players and only two second-years. For us to be able to push to five sets and lose by three is just amazing. It shows a lot.”
The visiting Cascades (5-2) had lost the first set 25-20 and reeled off back-to-back 25-19 wins before the thrilling fourth set.
Barker said the timeout with UFV four points shy of victory gave her and her teammates a new focus.
“We just knew that we could totally pull it off. (Ramsey) really motivated us to go back on the court, and we showed her that we could really push it,” she said.
Bunnah started things off with her hard serves, and her teammates followed up with hard hitting.
“It’s just like in hockey: when you put shots on the net, at some point they’re going to go in,” said Ramsey. “When the bounces start to go your way, it’s most likely because you’re working pretty hard.”
Their youth came to the fore in the fifth set, as they got out to an 8-4 lead before the Cascades came back to tie it at 10s on their way to victory.
“They’re going to win because they’re more calm in the last five points of a five-set match. Our girls, you could just see tense shoulders,” said Ramsey.
“I told them that they had to shake it off — if they were thinking ‘Oh, I missed that pass,’ it doesn’t matter. It comes down to the fact that they played very, very well for a group of first- and second-year athletes.”
Every Avalanche athlete who played Saturday got at least four digs; Emily O’Neill (18), Taylor (15), Barker (13) and Allison Pepper (12) were in double digits.
COTR had lost in straight sets the previous evening, with 16, 15 and 23 points.
“It was a young team showing up unprepared,” said Ramsey, who figured the women benefited after coming in much more excited on the second day.
Ramsey applauded Andrea Taylor for outstanding play on both days.
“She earned her spot (Friday). She was really the only player that showed up to play,” said the coach.
The Mount Baker grad’s quick thinking caught the Cascades off-guard for a key point Saturday, when she sent the ball back one hit sooner than UFV had anticipated.
“She just plays the game,” said Ramsey.
