Lady Braves secure state playoff berth

Banks takes out Seaside in four games to punch its postseason ticket

By Zack Palmer

The Forest Grove News-Times, Nov 5, 2009

Tommy Whitcomb / News-Times

Banks’ Marla Gooding (1) and Kaylin Vandomelen celebrate a point during last Thursday’s five-set loss to Seaside. The Lady Braves still earned a playoff berth, however, and will host Brookings-Harbor tonight.

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Banks’ energetic young volleyball team played its way into the state playoffs Monday, beating Seaside in four games to earn the Cowapa League’s third and final postseason bid.

Banks took out Seaside 25-15, 20-25, 25-16, 25-23 on a neutral court Monday night to earn a first-round home game in the OSAA 4A state playoffs, which begin tonight. Banks (10-12, 5-5) will host Brookings-Harbor, the third-place finisher in the Far West League, at 6 p.m.

“We really wanted them to get to state this year,” said Banks head coach Suzanne Alley. “We have some really good athletes, but most of the girls played JV last year, so there wasn’t a lot of experience. We honestly weren’t sure what to expect when the season started, but this is a big accomplishment for them.”

Normally, the Cowapa’s convoluted league playoff system would have necessitated an extra game on Monday, but Seaside’s five-set win over Banks in the teams’ regular-season finale last week eliminated fifth-place Scappoose from playoff contention.

“I don’t ever like to lose, but in that scenario it was probably better for us,” Alley said of the loss to Seaside last Thursday. “By tying [for third place] it eliminated everyone else, so we just had to play Seaside once.”

Chelsea Bunn had 24 kills on Monday while Melissa Masters added 12 more. Freshman Kaylin Vandomelen had two kills, but one of them helped turn around an 18-22 deficit in Game 4, and Banks rallied for the win behind an ace from Marla Gooding.

Alley said she doesn’t know much about Brookings-Harbor, but that won’t affect her game plan.

“We tend to not worry about the other side of the net,” she said. “We tend to just worry about ourselves.”

And no matter what happens tonight, Alley said she is proud of her young team for exceeding expectations.

“For them to have come as far as they have this year, it’s been amazing,” she said. “This is a great group of kids.”