HS Volleyball: Rams hold serve takeover sole possession of 1st place with hard fought win over Timberline

9/24/2024

North Thurston 3, Timberline 1 (25-19, 25-23, 19-25, 25-19)

(Lacey, WA) It’s always a special match when the 2 long time cross town rivals face off in any of the sports but it’s extra special when both come in sitting atop the league standings both at 4-0 in league play. The Rams and Blazers are now part of the 12 team Puget Sound League and were looking down at some great programs just below them including Central Kitsap, Capital, Silas, Bellarmine Prep, Lincoln and Gig Harbor to name a few.

This would be the 1st of two matches between the two teams with the last coming on the final night of regular season play, Tuesday, November 5. This match was to determine the final undefeated team in league play through 5 weeks. North Thurston was 4-1 overall with their lone loss an opening season non-league loss to powerful 4A Olympia. Timberline was 4-0.

As the match began the teamsd traded points to a North Thurston lead of 13-11. Addy Conner came up with a big kill shot to push it to a 3 point lead while getting the seve back and Anna Sheeran came in to reel off 3 straight points from the service line and included a remarkable rally at 15-11 but increased their lead to 17-11. That was too big of a deficit for the Blazers to close and the Rams opened with a 25-19 1st set victory.

In the 2nd set the Blazers didn’t have that let down in mid set and surged to a 14-10 lead with Emyah Riley serving up 3 points with 2 aces. Miya Jackson had a huge block in that run as well for Timberline. But the Rams are resilient and and hung in there to make a run late in the set and pulled within 1 trailing 23-22 when Jaeda Cruz came to the service line. Cruz fired off 3 straight points to clinch the 2nd set and take a commanding 2-0 lead.

Timberline faced a must win in the 3rd set and they were determined to push this to a 4th set as the two again dueled to a 17-17 tie. Timberline then dug in scoring 3 straight behind the serving of Kinley Smith. Smith also came up with a couple of big defensive plays and a big attack hammering the ball home for a point.

The Blazers then surged to a 22-18 lead when Destiny Mars came up with a pair of big kill shots to push it to set point. North Thurton would avoid 1 set point but after a back and forth 24-19 rally the Blazers put it away for the 25-19 win and pushed the match to a 4th set.

Timberline began hot in the 4th set going up 4-0 but the Rams quickly re-grouped and outscored the Blazers 11-2 over the next 13 points to take an 11-6 lead. Conner cazme up with some great kills and the backline and setting play of the only senior on the Rams squad Katelyn Cleland was superb thorughout the match. Abby Losey playing the backline to the front with digs and powerful kill shots was also a big factor in this match.

The Blazers did fight back to tie it 14-14 with solid work from libero Jovie Lind and setter Leia Dela Cruz but North Thurston had the answer. With a 15-14 lead back-to-back Ram servers popped for 3 points each in Losey and Sheeran and pushed the lead to 22-16 which was too much for the Blazers to dig out from and the Rams went on to complete the 4 set win with a 25-19 4th set victory.

Our Thorbeckes MVP went to Katelyn Cleland for her all-around performance and leadership. The Rams are now 5-0 in Puget Sound League play and 5-1 overall while the Blazers dropped to 4-1. North Thurston will host Bellarmine Prep on Thursday while Timberline will try to bounce back at home against Central Kitsap. Both matches begin at 7:15.

Link to watch the full match on the NFHS Network (Subscription required)

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