Volleyball Win Streak Includes Tourney Championship

It all came together for the Eagle volleyball team during a five-match winning streak that included a tournament championship at the Skyline 4-Way Classic Sept. 22^nd.

The tourney win was their first under head coach Lyndi Scholl, and their 8-8 pre-season record is the best in Scholl's four years as coach. Siskiyous is ranked No. 20 in NorCal going into Friday night's Golden Valley Conference opener at Feather River.

 "This is a fun group to coach," said Scholl. "They're crazy-competitive, selfless, and always the loudest team in the gym cheering for each other. They've shown a lot of versatility and are open to putting whatever they have toward winning."

Scholl said great teamwork and improved play all around were keys to the win streak. The three sophomores on this year's roster, hitters Jade Crawford and Karli Reynolds and libero Ashley Quizon, stepped up their games as did many freshmen, including setters Isabella Colombo and Madison Noble, hitter Julia DeLeon and middle blockers Kylie Bucher and Taylor Douglas.

The streak started with a 3-0 win at Alameda two days before they won all three of their matches at Skyline in San Bruno, 3-0 over Ohlone, 3-1 over Contra Costa, and 3-1 over host Skyline. The Eagles followed that with a 3-0 win Sept. 26^th at Yuba.  

The win over Skyline did not come easy. It included a 28-26 victory in the first set and a 29-27 win in the final set.

Overall, Quizon "took a big step in controlling the game with her serve receiving and defense, making sure not a lot of balls dropped," said Scholl. Quizon is ranked second among GVC leaders with 258 digs after averaging more than 20 digs per match at the Skyline tournament. She's also ranked second with 318 receptions.

Crawford, ranked third among GVC leaders with 2.78 kills per set, had a season-high 20 in the win over Skyline. She also ranks third in receptions with 288 and fifth in digs with 187.

Colombo had 46 assists in the match against Skyline and 106 total for the tournament. She ranks first on the GVC leaders list with 7.52 assists per set, third in service aces per set, and eighth in digs. "She always goes 110 miles an hour, grinding away, a crazy-hard worker," Scholl said of Colombo. "We're super happy to have her."

Scholl praised DeLeon, ranked 9^th in receptions and 12^th in kills, for her dominant play on the front line during the streak and her versatility playing the middle, right and outside positions. She averaged 10 kills per match at Skyline.

Reynolds, ranked 8^th in receptions, 12^th in digs and 13^th in kills, had 13 kills in two of the tournament matches and 17 digs in the win over Ohlone.

Noble, who ranks 13th in assists, had 20 in the win at Alameda and 18 at Yuba.

Scholl said Douglas has also been showing versatility playing different positions in the front row well. She had 9 kills in the tourney win over Contra Costa.

Bucher, ranked 14^th in solo blocks and 16^th in total blocks, had 2 solo blocks at Alameda and 2 solo blocks and an assist at Skyline.

Also ranking high among GVC players is Madelyn Truelock, who is 8^th in total blocks and 10^th in kills per set. She had 13 kills in the win at Yuba.

While Lassen (20-2) and Feather River (14-4) will be tough in conference, "We've showed we can compete with good teams," said Scholl. "We just need to stay aggressive and minimize errors."

The Eagles are scheduled to return home for a GVC match against Butte (4-12) Oct. 13 at 6 p.m.

Here's a statistical rundown of their five wins in a row.

3-0 win over Alameda, 25-10, 25-10, 25-17

Team: only 3 services errors in the match, 33 kills, 32 assists, and 85 total attacks, 33 digs

Karli Reynolds: 4 kills, 3 service aces, 12 digs; Madison Noble: 1 kill, 3 aces, 20 assists; Jade Crawford 6 kills, 2 service aces, 6 digs; Ashley Quizon: 1 kill, 2 service aces, 6 digs; Josie Cole: 1 dig, 1 kill; Isabella Colombo: 1 kill, 9 assists, 2 digs; Julia DeLeon: 11 kills, 4 service aces, 5 digs; Hailey Rock: 2 kills; Kylie Bucher: 7 kills, 1 service ace, 2 solo blocks.

Skyline tourney 3-0 win over Ohlone, 25-19, 25-23, 25-21

Team: 34 kills, 29 assists, 6 aces, 57 digs, 2 blocks

Reynolds: 12 kills, 2 assists, 17 digs; Douglas: 1 kill, 1 dig, 1 block assist; Amelia Gastelum: 1 kill, 1 ace, 7 digs; Crawford: 7 kills, 8 digs, 1 block assist; Quizon: 7 assists, 5 aces, 24 digs; Colombo: 3 kills, 23 assists, 3 aces, 9 digs; DeLeon: 8 kills, 2 assists, 1 ace; Bucher: 4 kills, 1 dig, 1 solo block.

Skyline tourney 3-1 win over Contra Costa, 25-18, 19-25, 25-13, 25-12

Team: 52 kills, 50 assists, 14 aces, 77 digs, 1 block

Reynolds: 6 kills, 3 assists, 6 aces, 10 digs; Douglas: 9 kills, 2 digs, 1 block assist; Gastelum: 1 ace, 3 digs; Noble 3 assists, 1 ace; Crawford 16 kills, 2 aces, 12 digs; Quizon: 1 kill, 7 assists, 19 digs; Colombo: 37 assists, 2 aces, 19 digs; DeLeon: 11 kills on 25 attacks, 2 aces; Rock: 2 kills; Bucher: 7 kills, 6 digs, 1 block assist.

Skyline tourney 3-1 win over Skyline, 28-26, 21-25, 25-12, 29-27

Team: 56 kills, 54 assists, 10 aces, 83 digs, 1 block

Reynolds: 13 kills, 2 digs; Douglas: 4 kills, 3 digs; Gastelum: 1 aces, 8 digs; Noble: 1 ace; Crawford: 20 kills, 1 assist, 1 aces, 15 digs; Quizon: 1 kill, 6 assists, 4 aces, 19 digs; Cole: 3 kills, 1 dig; Colombo: 1 kill, 46 assists, 2 aces, 18 digs; DeLeon: 11 kills, 1 assist, 1 ace, 17 digs; Bucher: 3 kills, 1 solo block.

3-0 win at Yuba, 25-7, 25-7, 25-15

Team: 38 kills, 37 assists, 10 aces, 35 digs, 5 blocks

Reynolds: 5 kills, 1 ace, 10 digs, 1 block assist; Noble: 18 assists, 2 aces, 3 digs; Crawford: 13 kills, 2 aces, 8 digs; Quizon: 4 assists, 9 digs; Cole: 2 solo blocks; Taylor Odbert: 4 kills; Colombo: 16 assists, 3 aces, 3 digs; Truelock: 13 kills, 1 dig; DeLeon: 2 kills, 1 ace, 1 dig, 2 solo blocks, 1 block assist; Rock: 1 kill; Bucher: 1 kill.

By Steve Gerace