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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Jackson hands Kamiak first Wesco South volleyball loss

By Alex Bosworth
For The Enterprise

Little by little, the Jackson volleyball team is learning how to win in the Wesco South.

On Oct. 22, the team took what head coach Eric Champoux equated to a quantum leap.

Haley MacDonald had 43 assists, Malisa Marasigan and Leigh-Ann Haataja each had more than 20 digs and Jackson came all the way back from two games behind to defeat Kamiak 19-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-12 in a Wesco South match at Kamiak High School.

“This is a big step for us,” Champoux said of handing Kamiak (6-1 in the league, 10-2 overall) its first Wesco South loss of the season. “(The win) is another mental break for us. It’s a big stepping stone.”

The win improved Jackson to 6-1 in the South (11-2 overall). The Timberwolves now control their own destiny, and can take the South title if they win their final two regular season games against Mountlake Terrace and Meadowdale.

Pretty impressive for a team that won just four matches last year.

Jackson had to put in a little bit of overtime to defeat Kamiak on its home floor. With the game lasting five sets and more than two hours, the contest was a mental marathon between the two teams as much as a volleyball match.

After losing the first two games, Jackson fought back to tie it at 2-2. Then, with the score tied 10-10 in the fifth and final game, 6-foot-5 senior Christy Cain came up with two huge kills to put her team up 12-10, and Jackson never relinquished the lead. Freshman Emmy Allen had the game-winning kill to lock it up.

“We knew we had come back from deficits before,” said Cain after the match. “We knew we had come back before. … We have confidence in all our hitters. (We knew we can score) no matter who gets it.”

Cain had 12 kills and Allen 10 kills. Junior Leigh-Ann Haataja finished with a team-high 21 kills to lead Jackson.

Before Thursday, Meadowdale had been the only Wesco South team to win a single game against the Knights this year — and it came in a 3-1 Kamiak victory.

Kamiak head coach Natalie Bowie knew Jackson would be tougher: “They serve really good and they’ve got tall girls that can block the ball,”

Bowie said before the match.

In fact, the Timberwolves had defeated the Knights in the Auburn Invitational earlier this year in a non-league match.

But with the Knights jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead, it appeared Kamiak would stay undefeated.

Facing a 0-2 hole, Champoux said he wasn’t overly concerned.

“You just have to work for points,” Champoux said. “It’s not about winning or losing. We didn’t do anything wrong. … They (Kamiak) played fantastic. I told (my team) they were playing good volleyball.”

A big part of the rally was Marasigan (23 digs) and Haataja (26 digs), who saved several shots that looked like sure-fire winners in the third and fourth games.

Kamiak had won six matches in row.

Jackson won its fifth match in a row since a 3-2 loss to Shorecrest.

Champoux credited turnaround this season and the mental toughness his team displayed Thursday in large part to its preparation.

“(It was) summer stuff,” Champoux said of his team. “We got in the gym, … worked out, (got in the) weight room … to make sure a four-win season didn’t happen again.”

Kamiak was led by Bryce Larson’s 19 kills and 16 digs. Sophomore setter Ally Bowles added 43 assists, and Anna Senouillet (13 kills, eight digs) and Jazmyne Dodd also put up numbers for Kamiak, which looked like it was going to run away with another relatively easy Wesco South win at first.