Wilsonville and La Salle have been NWOC rivals for years now, every time these schools play no matter the sport it is a spectacle to see. Earlier in the year Wilsonville travelled to La Salle and beat a team that had not lost on their home court in 5 years. As the two biggest games of the regular season for these two teams when they square off the whole community takes notice.

The gym at Wilsonville High School was packed for an inner conference heavy weight bout between the two best teams in the NWOC, La Salle coming into the match was 12-1 in league play and 17-3 overall. Meanwhile Wilsonville had an undefeated conference record 13-0 as well as an undefeated overall record 24-0.

As mentioned before the first time these squads squared off in the brick oven Wilsonville handed the Falcons their first loss of the season in 4 sets. The game tonight would be a pivotal one for both teams, for La Salle a win would tie them with Wilsonville at the top of the conference and give them a massive regular season win against a quality opponent right before the playoffs start. For Wilsonville the stakes are as high if not higher, with a win they would beat La Salle twice in the same season for the first time in 5 years.

The Falcons immediately set the tone in the first set taking it easily by a score of 25-13, but what was worse for Wilsonville was at the end of that first set, starting OH Ashlyn Hartford went down with an apparent injury. She didn’t return for the rest of the game. The second and third sets were both very close but saw Wilsonville pull away at the end winning both sets 26-24.

La Salle bounced back in the fourth set, beating Wilsonville 26-24 .This meant the game would come down to the fifth and final set to 15 points. With the student section rocking and a packed house Wilsonville pulled through in the last set defeating La Salle handily by a score of 15-8. Tragedy struck yet again for Wilsonville in the celebration however, Olivia Lyons the starting MB for Wilsonville got hurt as the team celebrated her victory.

The result was a dislocated knee cap that will cost Lyons the rest of her season, for Hartford we later figured out the injury was a torn ACL and MCL, obviously ending her season as well. Even as Wilsonville gets their best win of the year it looks as though some bad luck and some knee injuries could de-rail a deep playoff run for Wilsonville.

Losing two starters in a season is rare but considering it was in the same game is a tough pill to swallow for a team that now sits with an undefeated 24-0 record. Wilsonville looks to keep that undefeated record in the regular season on senior night