By Mike Weber

For the Baker City Herald

FOREST GROVE — The Baker High School Bulldogs volleyball team capped its finest season in six years by reaching the OSAA Class 4A state tournament at Forest Grove High School.

The Greater Oregon League champion and No. 6 ranked Bulldogs came into the eight-team quarterfinals with the momentum of winning 13 matches in a row and had hopes of extending the streak and advancing to the semifinals.

Unfortunately, the long streak was snapped in Friday’s 1:15 p.m. match against the No. 4 ranked Crook County Cowgirls (29-4), who won 25-10, 25-5, 25-10 over the Lady Bulldogs (21-5).

Baker then came back with hopes of turning things around as it faced the No. 5 ranked Tillamook Cheesemakers (18-6) in Saturday’s 10 a.m. consolation bracket.

The Bulldogs, guided by second-year coach Warren Wilson, were just unable to continue the impressive play from their late-season playoff run as they lost 25-19, 25-12, 25-23 to Tillamook to conclude the season. Nevertheless, it certainly turned out to be a season to remember as it marked their best year since 2010, which was the last time Baker qualified for the state tournament.

“I’m extremely proud of these girls, who are really a phenomenal group of kids to be around,” said Wilson. “They competed hard all year and we had a very good season. I really believed that we could have some success here and I would be glad to match these girls against any team in the state again. If they had previous playoff experience, I think things might’ve been a little different.”

A strong Crook County squad simply overwhelmed Baker in the quarterfinals. Crook County led all the way in each set, capitalizing on Baker mistakes to jump in front on the scoreboard 16-5 in the opening game. The Tri-Valley Conference champion Cowgirls utilized a powerful hitting offensive attack as they just pounded the ball to the floor frequently to pull away in a 25-10 Game 1 win.

It was very similar in the second set as Crook County had another overpowering performance in holding the Bulldogs to just five points in a lopsided 25-5 victory. The Cowgirls maintained their momentum from start to finish in the match in getting the 3-0 sweep after a 25-10 third set win.

Crook County displayed good sportsmanship in the match as coach Rosie Honl took out her top players when the Cowgirls scored 15 points in each set and then inserted freshman players into the lineup. Crook County later advanced to Saturday’s championship game and lost 3-1 to state champion Sisters.

“On Friday (versus Crook County), I think the girls were nervous and they were tentative, because it was the first time that any of them had ever played in the state tournament,” said Wilson. “They came out and responded well and played very competitively against Tillamook. This is a game of momentum swings and when you get hot and score some points, then that changes things. They (Tillamook) capitalized on a couple of mistakes that we made. I can’t fault the girls for anything, because they played aggressively for the entire game.”

In the consolation round elimination match against Tillamook, the Bulldogs had intentions of rebounding from the disappointing quarterfinal loss. The Bulldogs wanted to redeem themselves by hopefully getting a win to advance to Saturday’s fourth-place trophy match.

They came out and had an impressive effort in the opening set and had a chance to perhaps get a confidence-building win. It was close from start to finish. The Bulldogs were within 19-17 late in the set. Tillamook closed out the set with a 6-2 run though for the victory. Tillamook then continued its momentum with a 25-12 win for a 2-0 lead in the match.

It really seemed like the Bulldogs had gained some confidence when they came out and played with a strong effort in the third set and almost got a victory. Baker’s Kourtney Lehman (six kills) helped propel the Bulldogs in front early at 3-0 while serving three straight points from the service line.

“Working with this group of girls, I always feel confident out on the court, because we always work together well and we’ve had lots of fun here,” said Lehman. “This was definitely an experience that I’ll always remember and hopefully Baker will get back here again next year. I think it was a little overwhelming for some of the girls to be playing at such a high level in the tournament.

“We did the best we could. We had hopes for a better outcome, but we just couldn’t overcome our mistakes. I felt like we had a good chance to come back and win the third set, but then we just lost our momentum,” Lehman said.

Baker extended its advantage to 8-2 on a solid hit to the floor by senior Jordan Rudolph (seven kills, seven blocks) and forced a Tillamook timeout.

“It was a wonderful experience to be here and I think this is going to help start a new winning tradition for Baker, because our football and cross country teams both reached state tournaments too,” said Rudolph, one of three Bulldog seniors along with Lehman and Christina Maldonado (10 assists) who played the final game of their Baker High volleyball careers Saturday.

“The key to our success this year is that we’re so much like a family and we always support one another and we all had fun playing volleyball together this year. Every team that’s here deserves to be here, because everyone on each team worked very hard to help lead their team here,” Rudolph said.

Junior Desiree Davis (three aces, 12-for-12 serving) served an ace to help put Baker up 10-2. The Bulldogs then built their largest lead of the game at 16-7 on a kill by GOL Player-of-the-Year Kaeli Flanagan (seven kills). It certainly looked like a victory was within their reach at that point of the game.

“I had lots of fun and being able to participate in the state tournament was just like an honor in itself,” said Maldonado. “We haven’t been here in a long time. For our seniors to conclude our career like this by coming out here to play in the tournament is certainly a big accomplishment. At the beginning of the third set, I felt like we really had a good chance to win it.”

Tillamook responded with a 12-3 run though, knotting it 19-19. Four more deadlocked scores followed with the final one at 23-23. Tillamook pulled out the win though by scoring the last two points in a close 25-23 victory.

Sophomore Jayme Ramos led Baker in assists with 17.

“We have an awesome group of seniors in these three young ladies (Lehman, Maldonado, Rudolph), they’re very special people and they played phenomenal all year,” said Wilson.

Despite the season concluding with two losses, it was an overall very successful year for Baker, which won its first GOL title since 2010 with a 6-0 record. The Bulldogs also advance to the state playoffs for the first time since 2011.

Baker also received the tournament sportsmanship trophy Saturday evening.