T-wolves outlast Hawks

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE

Jackson had every right to be concerned heading into the fifth and deciding game of its match with Mountlake Terrace.

The Timberwolves won the first two games, but the Hawks came storming back to grab the next two and appeared to have seized the momentum.

Jackson lost the first two points before rebounding to claim the fifth game and a hard-fought 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 15-25, 15-9 victory in a Western Conference South Division volleyball match Oct. 16 at Mountlake Terrace High School.

Senior Angelina Rich, one of only two players that came into the season with any varsity experience, had four service aces and a kill to lead the Timberwolves in the fifth game.

The Wolfpack didn’t appear tense at the start of the final game.

“I think we had the confidence to win,” Rich said. “Our team is really starting to turn into a team now.”

First-year Wolfpack coach Erik Champoux admitted that he wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen when the Wolfpack took the floor for the final game.

“Fifth games can go either way,” he said. “I think we did the things we needed to do to win that game and that was serving aggressively and having fun and being relaxed.”

Champoux hoped the players took note of those last two points.

“If they can learn to just do that, that’s learning how to win,” Champoux said. “If they can learn how to stay relaxed and have fun out there, then I won’t be nervous in the future.”

In addition to the three aces by Rich, sophomore Dionna Kirton had back-to-back aces early in game five to give the Timberwolves a 3-2 lead.

Rich actually had struggled with her serves recently but kept working on them at practice.

“She turned it on in that game and she got into a rhythm,” Champoux said. “It’s all about rhythm in that last game. You start getting in a rhythm usually a team is going to start getting nervous or start playing tense or making some errors.”

Jackson improved to 3-3 in the league and 5-6 overall. The up-and-down season is somewhat expected since the Timberwolves are fielding an inexperienced team, Champoux said. Middle blockers Dionna Kirton and Christy Cain are sophomores and junior setter Cerise Knakal doesn’t have much varsity experience.

Rich finished with 14 kills, while Kirton had 12 kills and four blocks. Knakal recorded 42 assists.

“Right now we’re beating the teams we should be beating and we’re probably losing some matches against teams that are a little bit better than we are,” Champoux said. “We’re still pretty young.”

Jackson had a 10-8 lead in the third game before Mountlake Terrace went on an 8-1 run to take control. The Timberwolves also had an 11-8 lead in game four, but the Hawks again rallied.

“They just got on a run. We started to fall down,” Rich said. “I think come the fifth game we knew we had to win. We pulled through.”

The victory wasn’t the way Champoux would have drawn it up but he was still pleased his team pulled it together at the end.

“I’m happy with this win,” he said. “They pushed us. We didn’t know where this match was going to go. … It’s a win, not necessarily how I thought it’d go, but we still won the match.”