Another great season is in the books for the Wilsonville volleyball program, as the 2023 season came to a close a couple of weeks ago. A terrific run ended with the Wildcats falling in the quarter-finals to Crater.
After losing in the semifinals last year to Bend, the Wildcats came into this year with high expectations. After losing key starters Makenna Wiepert, Ella Hubka, and Emma Aleweine, Wilsonville had big shoes to fill.
Wilsonville was able to fill those giant shoes from within. Players such as Kate Gore, Teagan Hamilton, and Lana Gillas all stepped into bigger roles than the year before. Seniors Ashlyn Hartford and Olivia Lyons returned from knee injuries suffered late in the previous season.
Emma Fauth transferred from Tigard to give Wilsonville more presence in the middle, and Mary Matthews, Cammy Gore, and Ellis Underhill all had big roles during the 2022 season and gave Wilsonville valuable experience on the court.
Wilsonville started the season 4-0 and didn’t lose a set before a tough tournament at Grant High School that saw them lose to a couple of 6A teams, those being Sunset and Grant. After that tournament, Wilsonville won their next four games again, all against league opponents. The biggest of those victories was over La Salle as the Wildcats traveled to the brick oven and took down their rivals in 5 sets.
After that, Wilsonville went 7-3, winning all their league games and again only taking defeats to 6A competition in Nelson, Westview, and St. Mary’s. Wilsonville then squared off with La Salle for the second time this year. With the league championship likely on the line, the Wildcats and the Falcons went back and forth before La Salle came out on top in another rivalry game that went to 5 sets.
With both teams tied at the top of the NWOC, the most likely outcome was for these NWOC powerhouses to split the league title. That was before La Salle suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of Rex Putnam, and Wilsonville took sole possession of the NWOC league title.
After such a roller coaster of emotions, Wilsonville headed into the first round against the Mountain View Cougars, and while all three sets were close (26-24, 25-23, and 25-20), Wilsonville came out on top and headed to the quarter-finals.
The #6 seeded Wildcats would find themselves against the #3 seeded Crater Comets at the state tournament at Forrest Grove High School. In that matchup, Wilsonville was close throughout the contest, but Crater showed they were the superior team and swept Wilsonville in three sets (25-19, 25-22, and 25-22), ending their dreams of a state championship.
Wilsonville did get to play in a consolation game against West Albany, both teams took alternating blows, but West Albany emerged victorious in five sets (19-25, 22-25, 22-25, 11-25, 15-5).
Over the course of the season, this team shared an unbreakable bond, one that helped them through the low parts of the season. As Senior Mary Matthews put it, “We realized we could lift each other up, we play better, and have more fun when we play as a family. We had a close-knit group that felt like a big group of sisters who could share everything with each other”
Overall, Wilsonville had a great season, finishing with an 18-8 overall record, a 15-1 league record, a NWOC title, and a top-8 finish in the state.
After the season, Senior Ashlyn Hartford talked about how the season went from her point of view: “The season went really well. Even though we didn’t win the state championship, it was still a positive season with good accomplishments”
The Wildcats will look to achieve the ultimate goal of winning the state championship next year, they will have a very good chance to with returning starters the aforementioned Fauth, Underhill, Hamilton, and Gillas while also returning Olivia Clark and Emily Holmes, who both saw the court a fair amount this season.