Central Oregonian

Cowgirls escape Ridgeview

After dropping first two sets Crook County rebounds to defeat Ridgeview in five sets

LON AUSTIN/CENTRAL OREGONIAN

Members of the Crook County High School volleyball team celebrate after coming from behind to knock off the Ridgeview Ravens in five sets Tuesday night in Redmond.

Lon Austin

October 04, 2012

Playing shorthanded, the Crook County Cowgirls were able to survive a grueling, five-set Special District I volleyball match with the Ridgeview Ravens.

The Cowgirls, who were without senior standout Makayla Lindburg, dropped the first two sets of the match before rallying to win 23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-6, 15-6 in the match played Tuesday night in Redmond.

“He (God) was watching over us,” head coach Rosie Honl told her team following the match. “In somebody else’s house, to be down two to nothing and to come back and win three straight shows tenacity. When you face adversity and come back and fight like that in somebody else’s house in brand new rotation after brand new rotation — I’m so proud of you guys.”

Crook County jumped out to an early lead in the first set, and led for most of the game. Hannah Troutman had a monster set, ripping seven kills in the game. However, Troutman rotated off the front row. With Lindburg unavailable and Troutman on the back row, the Cowgirls struggled to score. Ridgeview finally tied the set 20-20, then took their first lead of the ,match on a kill by Chloe Ross on the next play.

Ridgeview led 24-23 when Crook County’s Karlee Hollis committed an uncharacteristic service error, giving the Ravens the first set.

Set two was a see-saw battle with neither squad able to take more than a three-point lead. Troutman was even more impressive in the set, registering nine kills. However, once again, she rotated to the back row late in the set, and once again, Ridgeview took control. When Hollis blasted a kill late in the match, the Cowgirls were back in the set trailing just 23-24. Once again, Hollis stepped back to serve, and once again, she hit a service error, giving Ridgeview a 2-0 lead.

Prior to starting set three, the Cowgirls made a change to their rotation and the change seemed to help as Crook County rolled out to an eight-point lead and held on to take the set. Hollis put an exclamation mark on the win with a kill on the final point.

The Cowgirls carried the momentum into the fourth set. After falling behind 3-2, the Cowgirls went on a tear. Ali Apperson served 21 consecutive points as the team rolled to the 25-6 win.

“It was just amazing,” Apperson said. “But I couldn’t have done it without the team because they helped with every single one of those points.”

The Cowgirls fell behind 2-1 early in the fifth and deciding set. However, the team tied the score on a Kathryn Kaonis kill, then took the lead when Troutman blasted her 31st and final kill. Troutman served the final nine points of the set and the Cowgirls escaped with the victory.

“Oh what a wonderful experience for the girls,” Honl said. “To be in such a hostile environment with their big senior stud out and to be down two and come back and win — that just shows what big hearts and toughness this team has.”

In addition to her 31 kills, Troutman also led the Cowgirls in digs with 17. Troutman was also 22-24 from the service line with three aces, and took on the bulk of the passing duties for the Cowgirls, receiving 33 of the Raven’s 75 serves.

“They were a good team and they put it all out there,” Troutman said of the Ravens. “It was really hard losing those first two games, but we realized that we had to come back now. Our serving and our blocking just got on because the adrenaline was flowing and we were able to come back from two down — which is a hard thing to do.”

Apperson finished a perfect 35-35 from the service line with four aces while Kayla Hamilton finished 16-16 and had 52 of the Cowgirls 53 assists in the match.

Annie Fraser added nine kills for Crook County while Hollis finished with eight kills.

With the victory, the Cowgirls are 11-2 on the season including a perfect 1-0 in Special District I and 3-0 in Intermountain Conference Hybrid play.

Meanwhile, Ridgeview fell to 6-6 and 0-4 in Intermountain Conference Hybrid play.

The Cowgirls hosted Summit Thursday then are at home again on Tuesday, Oct. 9, when they host Mountain View in a 6:30 p.m. contest.