Oct. 18: Grizzlies clinch SOC volleyball title

By Joe Zavala

Ashland Daily Tidings

It was a little ugly, a lot one-sided and seemed to drag on at the end, but as far as the Ashland High volleyball team is concerned it's a work of art.

That's because it was also the clincher.

The SOC championship that seemed destined for the Ashland trophy case since Day 1 finally arrived officially Thursday night, when the Grizzlies parlayed another steady performance into a three-game blowout. This time the victims were the Grants Pass Cavers, who made the one-hour trip then were surgically dissected in a little more than that, 25-12, 25-16, 25-18, at Mountain Avenue gym.

Junior hitter Chelsea Van Lehn led the Grizzlies with 13 kills and seven digs, senior middle blocker Marla Morin added eight put-aways and senior setter Megan Beugli dished out 26 assists, as Ashland (12-0 SOC) inched within two league wins of a perfect conference season.

"They took care of business," said sixth-year AHS coach Josh Rohlfing, who is in the hunt for his second undefeated SOC season since taking over the program in 1997. "They did it in three, they did it in straight games, they did what they were supposed to do and I'm really proud of them for that. I think that it's hard when you have so much going on. It's homecoming week, you have all these things, and then you want to win the conference title in front of your home crowd. It's really difficult at times and I felt like they did a good job of just saying, `All right, buckle down.' The last five points were as well as we've played any five points of the year."

The Grizzlies, ranked No. 5 in the state in the latest Class 4A coaches poll, won three of those last five points on spectacular net plays - the team's signature this season - including two smoking kills by Van Lehn and high stuff block by junior hitter Chey Hale.

The decisive victory slathered an appropriate frosting onto a cake that's been baked some time. Ashland only once was pushed to five games in a league match, has won 36 of 41 games overall and has been all alone atop the standings since a four-game win at Roseburg Sept. 19.

"This is a dream come true," said Morin, whose stellar season may soon be glazed with an SOC Player of the Year award. "It's the most amazing thing that's happened to me so far in my athletic career. It's the goal that you have when you come into high school, to be the best team in the conference."

Morin is one of only five seniors on a squad that could be a force next season as well. Those five seniors - hitter Emma Swanson, middle blocker Julia Sobolik, hitter Tessa Maurer, Beugli and Morin - pocketed their first league title since their freshman years, when most played junior varsity ball while the varsity team went 14-0.

"Feels great, awesome," said Maurer, who was second on the team with seven digs. "It was one of our goals when we first stepped on the court and we're really excited that we achieved a goal that we had made a long time ago. And it's really special for our seniors because we've been wanting it so bad.

"We got close last year, and to get it this year is really awesome."

The Grizzlies went 10-4 in the SOC last year and settled for a second-place tie with Crater before grabbing fifth at the state tournament. They went 9-5 and picked up another playoff berth in 2000.

Through Thursday's win, Rohlfing has guided Ashland to 45 league wins against just 9 losses in his last 3 1/2 seasons at the helm.

The Grizzlies were hardly threatened against the Cavers (2-10 SOC), jumping out to leads of 21-8 in Game 1 and 16-9 in Game 2 before enduring a mini Grants Pass rally in Game 3.

The Cavers scored 13 of 17 points early in the final game to turn a 2-7 deficit into a 15-11 lead - their first lead since 1-0 in Game 1. Thanks to a Morin kill, a Morin stuff block and several Grants Pass miscues, Ashland rallied to win the next six points and go up 17-15. The Grizzlies never trailed again.

"They're a much better team than we are and we start four freshmen, so that's kind of the difference," Grants Pass coach Steve Levesque said. "They should end up second (at state). The only thing that'll stop them is any sort of mental doubts they have about their abilities."

If there are any doubts, the Grizzlies have done a fantastic job repressing them. Following their latest blowout, the talk turned to SOC perfection - something the Grizzlies seem serious about attaining.

"Definitely," Morin said, "that's the next step, is being undefeated, and the next step after that is to do well at the state tournament."

Will Rohlfing rest his stars in the final two league matches against Crater (9-3 SOC) and Eagle Point (6-6 SOC)

"No, it's not going to happen," Rohlfing said. "We've got to be in tune when we get to the state tournament. We're going to have a two week layoff before the state tournament, so to sit anyone that last week would be giving them a three week layoff and that's just not going to happen."

Grizz Notes: The Grizzlies will get one final tournament in before the Nov. 8-9 state championships, but it's a big one. They travel to Portland on Saturday to play in the West Linn Invitational, which will feature No. 1-ranked Gresham, No. 2-ranked Jesuit and No. 4-ranked Barlow. Rohlfing says he would love to play Jesuit, because the Crusaders are one of the few upper echelon teams that Ashland has yet to face. There's another reason the Grizzlies want to face the Crusaders, however. Ashland will have both Gresham and Jesuit in its pool at state - a Pool 2 that Rohlfing has dubbed "the pool of death." Only the top two teams from each four-team pool advance to the eight-team bracket, which will be played out Nov. 9. Gresham, the No. 12 team in the nation in a preseason poll, beat Ashland in straight games Sept. 21 in the championship of the Rogue Valley Classic, and is the odds-on favorite to win its second straight 4A title and seventh since 1988.