For the better part of a year, the Hoquiam Grizzlies left the volleyball court with a sour taste in their mouths after losing two league games to rival Montesano — both five-set nail-biters — and a league title along with it.
It’s safe to say the Grizzlies had Tuesday’s matchup circled on their calendars for a long time, and they weren’t going to let this opportunity pass them by.
Hoquiam outplayed a Montesano team exhibiting its best offense of the season en route to a 3-1 victory at Hoquiam Square Garden.
“These guys wanted it so bad after last year,” Hoquiam head coach Heather Bozich said of her team, which won 25-14, 25-17, 18-25 and 25-14. “I think the way we lost (last season’s games) were motivation for us now.”
Playing inspired and energized from the start, Hoquiam (9-0 overall, 4-0 1A Evergreen) stretched what was a three-point lead in the first set to a 23-13 lead on an ace from senior middle blocker and reigning league co-MVP Chloe Kennedy.
A few plays later, a Montesano net error gave the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead.
Hoquiam continued the momentum in the second set, turning a narrow 12-11 lead into a 17-12 advantage as setter Ella Folkers fed Kristina Goulet and Kennedy for five straight kills.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Hoquiam senior setter Ella Folkers dazzled on Tuesday with 40 assists in the Grizzlies’ 3-1 victory over Montesano in Hoquiam.
The Grizzles also seemed to generate their own luck, evidenced by a hard Montesano shot that deflected off the collarbone of Hoquiam junior Faith Prosch and fell inbounds to give the Grizzlies a 19-12 lead.
Prosch would hammer home kills for three of the Grizzlies final four points of the set to secure the second-set victory.
Never a team to go away quietly, Montesano (6-6, 3-1) responded in the third set to jump out to a 15-5 lead as a red-hot Hoquiam offense cooled off.
Monte took an 18-8 lead on a combo-block by seniors Addie Winter and Clara Benton and kept the pressure on the entire set with kills from Winter and senior outside hitter Ashlyn Devereaux.
Down 20-12 and hoping to avoid losing a set for the first time this season, the Grizzlies mounted a comeback to cut the deficit to 21-18 on a pretty Prosch drop shot.
But after a Monte timeout, the Bulldogs scored the final three points on a Maia Young kill and two Hoquiam miscues to pull to within 2-1.
“They have amazing blockers and we let the first two sets change our mindset and we weren’t ready for it,” Kennedy said of the third-set loss. “It felt kind of defeating because we were looking for that three-set victory.”
“We won those first two sets and I think that was a good confidence booster, but in that third set (Montesano) played amazing,” Folkers said.
Hoquiam got back on track after a motivational speech from Bozich between games.
“(Coach Bozich) said it was 0-0. She said we need to take the scores that we had (in the first two sets) and apply them,” Kennedy said. “Just because we won the first two and lost the third one — if you look at the scoreboard — it’s not 25-18, it’s 0-0 and that helped us regroup and create a new mindset.”
“We knew Monte was going to come back strong,” Bozich said. “They are a well-coached team, they are incredible athletes and they don’t go away. After that third set we knew what we needed to get the momentum back.”
In the fourth set, the Grizzlies opened up a 7-3 lead on a block followed by three straight kills from Kennedy and a 12-4 lead a little later on a Goulet kill.
With Hoquiam up 24-12, Montesano rallied for two-straight points, leading Bozich to instruct her team from the sideline, “Hey, finish this. Right here, finish.”
Hoquiam did just that as libero Graci Bonney-Spradlin sent a hard jump-serve from Devereaux over to Folkers, who calmly put up a well-placed set to Kennedy. The heavy-hitting right-hander did the rest, smashing a shot off the block attempt of Winter and out of bounds for the 3-1 victory.
The win was the first over Montesano for the current crop of seniors.
“It’s a feeling that is indescribable. You don’t know how bad we wanted that after last season. That was a feeling I don’t think we could forget. It was a feeling we wanted to feel for the past year now and it feels great,” said Folkers, who acknowledged her head coach’s instructions prior to the final play. “We’re in the zone. She is saying it and we are saying it to each other. … She said to finish it and we finished it.”
Hoquiam got huge games from Folkers, who had 40 assists to go along with nine digs in the game, and Kennedy, who had a game-high 23 kills, five blocks, four digs and three aces, drawing praise from Monte head coach Pat Pace.
“Chloe played a great match tonight,” he said. “That was an MVP night for Chloe.”
With the prodigious offensive numbers Hoquiam put up on Tuesday, the excellence of the Grizzlies defense was not lost on Pace, who stated the Hoquiam defense “was phenomenal tonight.”
Bonney-Spradlin led the Hoquiam back court with 25 digs, including an incredible diving effort to save a nail-driving kill attempt from Winter in the fourth set.
Ashlinn Cady (13 digs, 4 kills) and Carron Blood (12 digs) also had double-digit digs on the evening.
“I can’t say enough about our defense tonight,” Bozich said. “The things they dug up and how they just wouldn’t let a ball hit the floor allowed us to transition into our offense.”
Aside from Kennedy, Hoquiam was led in kills by Prosch (13 kills) and Goulet (8 kills, 2 digs, 2 blocks).
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Hoquiam’s Faith Prosch (9) records a kill during the Grizzlies’ 25-14, 25-17, 18-25 and 25-14 win over Montesano on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022 in Hoquiam.
Pace said that while the offense his team played on Tuesday was the best he’s seen this season, the defense still needed work if the Bulldogs are to beat Hoquiam when they meet up on Oct. 27 in Montesano.
“For us, we are going to have to mix a little more defense in with our offense. The offense we played tonight, I’ll take any day, but our defense is going to have to get a lot better the next time we meet Hoquiam,” he said. “One of the comments made in the team meeting was that we just have to get more consistent. I’m really happy with our offense, but defensively we have to be consistent.”
At least for one night, the Grizzlies will celebrate a victory over a Montesano team that proved to be prickly in previous seasons.
“It feels awesome. … It’s a great feeling,” Kennedy said. “It’s electrifying and its something we’ve never felt before and now that we’ve felt it, we want to continue to feel it. So we’re going to take this game and apply it to every other game we have.”
Montesano hosts Tenino while Hoquiam plays at Elma on Thursday. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. start times.
