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Saints still undefeated in South through first six matches
It's no surprise that head coach Chelsie Speer and her Saints volleyball team are happy campers starting the second half of the season as they continue to dominate Southern Region play.
The Saints returned from Albany Wednesday night with a sweep victory over the Linn-Benton Roadrunners (25-17, 25-20, 25-15).
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They improved to 6-0 in the Southern Region and 24-7 overall. In those six league matches, they have played the bare minimum 18 games and have won every one in the best-out-of-five format (or first to win three games).
The Roadrunners are in third place in the South (3-3, 21-14).
The team was much happier Wednesday than during Saturday night's "silent" ride home from Vancouver. That was the final day of the Clark Crossover tournament, where the Saints proved to be mortal, going 2-3 during the two-day period.
"It was dead silent in the van from Vancouver to Gresham," said Speer of her team's disappointing tournament play. "I think they learned a lot from that. We still need to focus on one day at a time from here on out."
Speer admitted that nerves were at an all-time high Wednesday night after their below average effort during the Clark Crossover. She also said her team hadn't been playing to their fullest potential in the conference either.
"I was nervous, I didn't know what we would learn and how we would respond after that tournament," said Speer. "Even with the matches that we were winning, we weren't playing that great. We have a lot to improve on, which is a good thing."
Those quickly were quickly put to rest Wednesday as the Saints dominated from the opening serve.
"I thought we played well and rebounded well from the weekend," Speer said. "As a team we played well and that's what I wanted to see."
Freshman outside hitter Devan Belshe continued to have her way Wednesday night as she finished with a match-high 14 kills. Sophomore middle blocker Audrianna Patterson had 10 kills.
The Saints had 47 kills compared to 34 for the Roadrunners.
The Saints take on the Southwestern Oregon Lakers (1-4, 6-18) tonight at the MHCC gym in a special evening that starts at 7 p.m. It is Sophomore Night (when the second-year players are honored), it is Cancer Awareness Night (both teams will be wearing pink) and the Saints' Southern Region win streak is on the line (16 straight).
The first 100 people that arrive to tonight's match will receive free t-shirts, thanks to SAB (students activity board). The shirts are to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They will say, "Go Pink or Go Home" - "Battle of the Dome."
"It's going to be tough," said Speer about the emotions of the night, "This year, especially. This was my first recruiting class. That's nothing against last year's team (sophomores)."
Sophomores on the team include co-captains and outside hitters Kyra Speer and Haley Leithem, along with libero Kelsey Kai and middle blocker Patterson.
The Saints will go back to work Saturday when they host the Umpqua Riverhawks (0-5, 7-28) in a 1 p.m. match.
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