CAMAS — If this match is any indication, the volleyball postseason is going to be wild in the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League.
The district tournament is a month away, but volleyball fans can dream, right?
Camas rallied to beat Battle Ground in five sets in a matchup of ranked teams. Scores were: 23-25, 27-25, 23-25, 25-13, 15-10.
Carly Banks had 25 kills and Lauren Harris added 20 for the Papermakers.
Battle Ground’s Brooke Van Sickle, meanwhile, had 35 kills.
Oh, and the match was played in front of a rowdy Camas student section and the school band.
Volleyball fever.
“It was awesome. It gave us great energy to be able to play with them next to us,” Harris said.
Trailing 2-1, the Papermaker dominated the fourth set and also ruled No. 5.
“It was about playing as a team. We weren’t going to play as individuals,” Banks said. “We just really wanted this.”
Neither team is familiar with trailing. Both are used to winning easily so far in the 4A GSHL season.
“It was different,” Banks said of heading to the court trailing by a set. “I knew we could come back and we could win, We had the heart. We needed to do what we knew how to do.”
Camas took advantage of four consecutive hitting errors by the Tigers to take a 9-4 lead in the fourth set.
Then Sophi Jacobson had three kills and a block in a spurt that gave Camas a 15-7 lead. Camas kept with the pressure and rolled to the 12-point win to force the deciding set.
Banks had two kills, Harris had one more, Christina Elliott scored an ace, and Anna Roche had a block as Camas jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fifth set. Battle Ground never recovered.
“This means so much to us that we could pull out this win and show everybody how much heart we have,” Harris said. “We just said we had to come together and be more of a team than we’ve ever been before. But we knew we could do it.”
Van Sickle had eight kills in the first set and nine more in the third set when the Tigers picked up their two wins.
Banks responded with nine kills in the second-set Camas win.
This first match between the two programs goes to Camas. They will meet again in Battle Ground. And perhaps again in the district tournament in November.
This year, the top two teams from the district tournament will go directly to the Class 4A state tournament — no bi-district play. The top six of the seven-team league will advance to district, with the top two teams receiving first-round byes.
The league champion (No. 1 seed) will host every match it plays. Matches will be played on a Tuesday, Thursday, and then Saturday. The district championship loser will have to play again for second place on that final day. Not everyone is thrilled with the format.
Gary McGarvie, Union’s athletic director, said he presented the format to the other ADs in the 4A GSHL and it was approved by a vote.
“I think it’s unfair the coaches weren’t consulted before it was voted on,” Camas coach Julie Nidick said. “We would liked to have had some input on it. It’s unfortunate that the No. 1 is not protected at all. And if you lose the district championship match, you have to bounce back right away to get to state. I don’t agree with that.”
Battle Ground coach Cheyanne Knight agreed.
“It would have been nice to have the league champion, for them to be protected,” she said.
McGarvie said the ADs did not want the No. 1 team to sit out a week without playing. The advantage to being the No. 1 seed, he said, is have home matches throughout the tournament.
No one knows which team will get that No. 1 seed just yet.
Camas has the advantage now. Battle Ground hopes to get even the next time the two teams play.
The winners appear to be volleyball fans.
Knight said she has never seen a band at a volleyball match in her years of coaching.
Nidick was impressed with the large crowd, too.
“That was amazing. I was actually a little worried about all the hype coming into this match and how the girls would react,” she said. “They came through.”
