Eagles sweep away net competition

By Reggie Stiteler
Published: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 5:47 PM CDT
Mt. Shasta News

Chrislyn Chewning (2) attacks Shasta's block attempts in game two of the Eagles' three game sweep of their conference rival 30-28; 30-24; 30-23. Chewning had a solid all-around match including 12 kills, 13 digs and four blocks with 10 serves.

Number 19, meet number 24. They intend to knock you off and assume the role of Golden Valley Conference favorite.

Shortly after their introductions, College of the Siskiyous promptly dusted Shasta College's upset threat aside with three straight victories, 30-28; 30-24; 30-23, on their home court last Friday night.

The rankings (entering play) are from the California Community College Women's Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The sweep was courtesy of Jennifer Mendenhall, Crislyn Chewning, Courtney Barlow and a deep Eagle supporting cast.

“We got on a roll and made it look good,” coach Tom Powers said of his girls' triumph.

“The biggest difference (between us and our competition) is if a player has a problem, we can go to our bench to fix it and we're not losing anything.”

Powers and assistant coach Dave Fontius mixed and matched 13 girls' strengths to temper a motivated Shasta attack.

Game one opened with at least six tie scores before a 16-16 deadlock. Shasta pulled away with a 21-17 edge before a Siskiyou time out.

The Eagles (14-2) rallied behind a Barlow spike to close within a point 26-25. The Knights stopped play to talk it over before the teams battled back and forth with ties at 26, 27 and 28 before Mendenhall authoritatively spiked the game shut 30-28.

“Jennifer is probably the most dominant player in the league,” Powers said. “Her presence alone means so much...and opens up both sides of the court for us.”

During one play in game three, a hustling Chewning found herself on the floor as the ball was set to her. Quickly recovering to her feet, she punched the ball over the net in barely enough time scoring the point.

“Crislyn came out and played a good game for us,” Powers notes. “Keeping up her intensity really rubs off on the team.”

Chewning finished the match with 12 kills, 13 digs, 10 serves and four blocks. Barlow, who Powers complemented for hitting well at the net, joined Mendenhall with 13 kills. Mendenhall blocked seven Knight scoring attempts.

Now 2-0 in conference play, the Eagles victory bumped them up to #13 in the coaches poll. They have a six-game road trip starting tonight against Redwoods.

The girls keep busy this weekend, facing Butte (Oct. 19) and West Valley (Oct. 20).

-- Lassen swept --

Flexing their deep bench, the Eagles swept aside Lassen 30-18; 30-14; 31-29, last Wednesday Oct. 10.

“Being in the bullpen too long, in baseball terms, you gotta get all the girls some work to keep them fresh,” coach Tom Powers explains. “It's good to get them the experience.”

Judging by the scoreboard, the Eagles dominated Lassen with relative ease in games one and two. Powers rated his girls performance okay and thought Friday's opponent Shasta may have been on their mind.

“We made some nice runs in the first two games, then we didn't make a run until Lassen got 27 in game three. We may have been looking forward (on the schedule) a little bit.”

He will take the results, though. Courtney Barlow led the Eagles with 13 kills across the match. Jennifer Mendenhall added seven kills and a team high five blocks. Chrislyn Chewning paced Siskiyous with 23 serves and ten digs, while setter Jennifer Batchelder assisted on 26 points.

At one point, Siskiyous found themselves down 23-17 in game three. For the most part, Powers stuck with his game plan, allowing some of his freshmen show their skills, which they did coming back to tie the game at 28.

Lassen grabbed the lead right back before Powers send Mendenhall back in for her sole game three volley, a kill which started a three point match-ending run.

“Jennifer is probably the most dominant player in our league,” Powers estimates. Recovering from her wrist injury, Powers wanted to make sure she was ready to go for strong conference rival Shasta.