FORKS — Trailing early in the first set with the Pacific League volleyball title and a home district playoff game on the line, Forks rallied for a senior night sweep of Raymond-South Bend 25-23, 25-12, 25-18 Wednesday night.
“It was a great performance,” coach Jenn LeDuke said. “We were down about seven points at one point in game one and the biggest thing to pull us out of it was we didn’t let an error control our next play. We were able to move on and take care of things.”
LeDuke said the Ravens lost much of their fight after the first set.
“They came out pretty strong and were feeling pretty good early on,” LeDuke said. “But there was never a moment in the match where there was any panic in [Forks’] eyes. I didn’t have to call a timeout, the girls were focused and went after them.”
LeDuke didn’t have stats from the game owing to a camera glitch.
“We had a ton of aces as a team,” LeDuke said. “Chloe Gaydeski had a bunch of kills, Keanna Rowley had two solid blocks there at the end, Karee [Neel] played well, Fyn Peters served great.
Fyn has a serve that doesn’t look like it would be hard to return, but teams have trouble with it.”
LeDuke also had praise for senior Erika Williams.
“Erika has been our setter for the last four years but we ran a 6-2 [formation] this year to get her in the front row because she is our hardest hitter and an all-around strong player.
“It was good to see her show that confidence. As a coach it was amazing to sit on the bench and watch them all do their thing.”
The Spartans (8-0, 12-3) celebrated the Pacific League crown and will now host the winner of a loser-out match between Toutle Lake and Morton-White Pass at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Depending on Saturday’s result, Forks will play another tournament game at Raymond or South Bend on Wednesday.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at sports@peninsuladailynews.com.
