Titans Advance To Face Jesuit In Sweet 16

By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.– West Salem came out on a tear in their 25-10, 25-16, 25-17 sweep of Lakeridge Wednesday evening at home. Setting the pace behind an aggressive attack and sound play as they began the 6A State Playoffs .

The Titan student section fed into the energy on the court as West Salem comfortably paced the opening set of the postseason from the Pacers.

“I loved it, it was definitely hard to come out and to come out like that is incredible,” Ashley Kelly said.

Lakeridge, who finished third in the Three Rivers League behind top-ranked West Linn and the seventh-seed Pioneers of Oregon City, answered in both the second and third sets. Keeping West Salem within reach at 8-8 and 4-4 in the latter two sets respectively.

West Salem advances to the Round of 16 following their sweep of Lakeridge Wednesday night (Picture By Jeremy McDonald)

But the Titans would settle down after their slow starts in those two sets, pulling away as they built some momentum for their big test Saturday in the Sweet 16 with Jesuit.

“We made a few little mistakes and once we got into our huddle we got into a groove. We told each other ‘Hey, we got our backs, we trust each other’ and we got the next one,” Bella Snyder starts. “I think our practices the next couple of days will really set us up for Jesuit and get us going to play. We’re hoping to cause an upset.”

The Crusaders Tualatin 25-11, 25-14, 25-7 Wednesday night at Jesuit as West Salem will travel to Beaverton on Saturday to play Jesuit. Winner plays the winner of Sherwood-Sprague on November 2, the Olympians defeated Newberg in five-sets Wednesday in Newberg.

South Salem and McNary will play each other Saturday at 2pm as the Saxons swept Sunset 25-18, 25-18, 25-21 and the Celtics defeated Grant 19-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-21.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald