West Albany sweeps the Raiders in a conference showdown

ALBANY - West Albany prevailed in a matchup of undefeated teams, sweeping Crescent Valley 3-0 in a Mid-Willamette Conference volleyball match on Tuesday night.

Game scores were 25-18, 25-23, 25-23.

With the victory, WA (5-0) remained the only team perfect in MWC play.

"It was a big win," Bulldogs coach Kelli Backer said. "The girls knew coming in, there was going to be a lot of emotion and intensity with two 4-0 teams battling out.

"We came in and battled and got after it today."

West Albany controlled the tempo of the match from the outset. The Bulldogs didn't back down from a bigger, more experienced CV squad.

The Bulldogs built leads of 17-10 in the first and second games, and 21-17 in the final game, to force the Raiders to play catch up each game. And CV fought back in every game.

"They battled back there right toward the end of the third game," Backer said. "That's what we expected the whole time. I told my girls that they weren't going to do without a fight."

After West Albany went up 21-17 in the third game, the Raiders scored two straight points to close the gap to three. A kill by the Bulldogs' Abby Chambers and a CV error pushed West Albany's lead back to five, 24-19.

A Bulldog error, a Janelle Batista kill and two West Abany errors helped CV pull within one, 24-23.

Any hopes of a comeback to force a fourth game were dashed seconds later when Chambers had another kill.

The senior setter/outsider hitter led the Bulldogs with 13 kills, while Mailii Trosper had 14 assists and Holly Goff recorded 13 digs.

"West Albany played a good game and they are a good team,"CV coach Corey Barton said. "But we were our biggest opponent tonight."

The Raiders (4-1) insisted they didn't overlook West Albany, but they did admit they weren't as mentally focused as they should have been. As a result, CV turned in a sloppy performance that was uncharacteristic of them.

Unforced errors were indeed the story of the game for the Raiders. Every time, it appeared they were on the verge of coming back, they committed an error.

"There were several times where we could have come back," CV senior outside hitter Elizabeth Young said. "We tied it up or were even up for a minute, but we just let down."

Added Barton, "We didn't take care of the ball, but, oh well, we will have to learn from it."

Young recorded six kills for the Raiders, while Batista led the team with seven. Hanna Lorenz added 22 assists and Sammi Brandstetter had six digs.

CV, which hosts Silverton on Thursday, knows what it needs to focus on until then.

"We'll work on our mental toughness and being more consistent with the basics," Young said. "Like getting our serves down. We'll be ready to play on Thursday."