TOLEDO — It was the opposite of a serving clinic for the Toledo High School volleyball team. At least for the first 20-25 minutes on Wednesday night.
Long or into the net serves didn’t allow the Riverhawks to generate any flow within their attacks. They got back to their first rotation before the 10-point mark and never led by more than three early on.
They ended up with a serving percentage of 70.8 in the opening set.
“I told them I’m not going to sit here and yell at you from the sidelines, but you gotta deliver,” first-year head coach Whitney Nailon said. “If you don’t give yourself a chance from the service line… it is all about just finishing.”
Point taken. Point received.
Toledo vastly improved in the last two sets to above 90 percent from the service line and put away Rochester 25-16, 25-7, 25-9 at home in a non-league contest. Nailon, after a stint at R.A. Long in the 2A classification, is 2-0 with her new bunch.
She admitted the only connection to the current group of Riverhawks is star Ellie Fallon, who Nailon has coached at the club level. Everyone else was brand new to her.
Yet she’s been astounded by what each of the notable returners – Fallon, Sidney Kruger, Taysia Miller, Abby Umbriaco, Lexi Young, Brenna Carver and Lexi Butterworth – have done through fall practices, a couple jamborees and two regular season sweeps.
“I didn’t fully understand what I was walking into,” Nailon said. “They are workhorses. It is hard to find athletes that value endurance and what putting in the extra work can do for you. It has been fun.”
Toledo’s core was introduced two years ago as the spry No. 7 seed from the C2BL that won a district playoff game. Then last year it broke out and made the Class 2B state tournament for the first time in over two decades and won a game in Yakima for the first time since the 1980s.
Now as they enter into upperclassmen territory, they’re taking on more responsibility. Nailon is hopeful the slow starts are early season hiccups rather than a trend.
“Our league is not going to be easy,” she said. “You can’t have a slow start against Rainier, against Adna, throw (Onalaska) in there too. They are going to capitalize.”
The Riverhawks answered the bell with a 9-2 spree that prompted a Rochester timeout before taking the first set. They led wire-to-wire in the second set and three straight Fallon aces in the third was in the midst of a 6-0 run.
Fallon, who celebrated her birthday on Wednesday, had team-bests in kills with 13 and aces with six. Miller and Young each had six kills, Kruger dished out 25 assists and Umbriaco recorded five digs.
“I’ve never had five athletes that can play six rotations and I really don’t have to make any adjustments,” Nailon said.
Rochester (1-3) was swept for the first time this fall. It fell in five-set thrillers to Napavine and W.F. West before it upended Eatonville in four sets.
Now in her third year at the helm, head coach Courtney Baird feels as soon the Warriors start clicking, they could be competitive in the 1A Evergreen League.
“Those first two games were games we could have taken,” Baird said. “Once it clicks, we’ll be just fine.”
A common theme has been shortcomings between the ears. Rochester was in a nip-and-tuck first set, but errors and net violations added up. It scored a combined 16 match points in the last two sets.
Libero Jessanie Quarles paced the back row with seven digs and Lexi Dupont had four kills while Charlie Culp registered three assists. The Warriors will play their third match in as many days when they host Centralia on Thursday.
“We’ve always dealt with the mental toughness part of it and we haven’t quite figured out yet how to flip it and move on,” Baird said. “You get two seconds to be upset and you have to be able to play the next ball.”
Toledo will be at the one day SunDome Volleyball Festival Tournament on Friday in Yakima. It is in a pool with Meridian, White Swan and The Bush School. Meridian was in the 1A state finals last fall and has placed top-eight in the last three state tournaments.
Nailon believes a little bit of adversity for the Riverhawks on Friday and Saturday when they take on Kittitas could serve them well.
“I want them to get frustrated, a little bit pissed off,” Nailon said. “I want to see how they respond to that.”
