High School Volleyball: No regrets for R.A. Long after senior laden State run
Net Work Issues – Lumberjills 'too inconsistent' to advance in first State Tournament appearance since 2009
YAKIMA VALLEY SUNDOME — It’s easy for a volleyball novice to look at a match, see a heavy hitter on the winning side of the net, and assume that the biggest girl, who jumps the highest, swings the hardest, and stacks up twice as many kills as anyone else might have been a problem for the losing team to contend with.
So when Fife’s Talula Lenoir smacked one ball after another off the sport court in the 2A State Tournament at the Yakima SunDome, some reporters began to wonder if she might have single-handedly been responsible for eliminating R.A. Long, Friday, in the 2A State Tournament at the SunDome.
R.A. Long head coach Whitney Nailon made sure to put that notion to bed quicker than a pair of pre-K boys at storybook time.
“We made a lot of hitting errors and our serving game was off. We just weren’t consistent,” Nailon said. “Offensively we could have been smarter and it got away from us.”
Alas, the Lumberjills were unable to close out on a promising start against he Trojans and wound up falling in five sets on the dark side of the bracket. That loss, combined with a sweep at the hands of Tumwater earlier in the day, brough R.A. Long’s season to an unceremonious close on the season’s biggest stage.
In the opening round, the Lumberjills were swept by the No. 4 T-Birds, with set scores of 25-16, 25-19 and 25-14.
Jillian Woodruff greased the wheels for R.A. Long as best she could with a team-high 15 assists to go with three kills, three blocks and five digs. A multi-faceted senior, Woodruff showcased her one-handed “turn and throw” setter dump in both State matches to net quick points while keeping the defense honest for her hitters.
“Setters being an offensive threat is a lost art, and Jillian has that ability to truly dominate a match by just being savvy and dumping,” Nailon said. “She didn’t do that a lot over the last couple years and I put a lot of pressure on her this year to be that offensive threat because we needed it. She did a great job of leading us with that because she’s very smart.”
Ella Eib posted a team-high nine kills with four blocks and four digs for the Jills. Eve Huhta added four kills with eight digs, while Sam Montgomery finished with five digs in the loss.
Those are just a few of the names that should read familiar to R.A. Long fans after the program’s most successful season since 2009.
“Ella carried us. There were matches where she swung 100 times, and that’s hard. It really is. But she did it for the team,” Nailon said. “And then Becca and Sam Montgomery, who at the beginning of the year didn’t think they were going to make varsity, and they stepped into a huge role.”
The loss to Tumwater dropped the No. 13 ranked Lumberjills into the consolation bracket for a dinner time affair against No. 12 Fife. R.A. Long held the advantage after both the first and third sets, and looked clear for landing in the fourth set, but could not put the Trojans away in a five-set season-ending defeat.
The Jills fell by scores of 18-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23 and 15-12.
Eib tallied a team-high 21 kills (.313 efficiency) with five blocks and eight digs, while Woodruff notched a team-high 29 assists to go with 13 kills, three aces and one block for R.A. Long
Huhta turned in a solid performance for the Jills with nine kills, six aces and six digs, while libero Rowan Ward turned up eight digs.
“Rowan came in and just owned the libero spot and was the team leader we needed,” Nailon noted.
And the Lumberjills’ coach continued to hand out praise for her players even as she began the task of planning the trip back over the mountains about 24 hours earlier than anyone in red and black was hoping for.
“Our seniors all had their moments,” said Nailon, at the conclusion of her 11th season coaching the Jills. “I wouldn’t want to do this with any other group. This has been something that I wanted to do since I started coaching high school, and it doesn’t just happen. It is a lot of sweat. It’s hard work.”
R.A. Long (15-8) finished third in the 2A Greater St. Helens League, third in the District IV Tournament, and wound up one win shy of reaching the final day of the season. The Lumberjills also swept the season’s Civil War series. With all that in the bag, Nailon did her best to put it all in perspective for the most successful bunch of Jills she’s ever coached — and no player better epitomized R.A. Long’s odyssey more than Woodruff.
“When you have a leader like Jillian who has experienced so many close opportunities to go to State — as a coach it was rewarding to have someone who has been leading the program since her freshman year finally get that opportunity,” Nailon explained. “To see Jillian go from knowing what it’s like to miss out on State by two points, and then go into this year’s District match against Ridgefield and sweep, and to again play so consistent in our two matches (at State), says a lot about her character. And that’s what coaches want. We want athletes to grow and have these experiences.”
