Prep Volleyball: The BZM All-Area Team
Net Positives — Honoring the best volleyball players from around The Blast Zone
Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com
MVP
Halle Johnson, senior, Kelso
Johnson was at the heart of everything that went right for Kelso this season, which was quite a lot. The Hilanders placed second in the league standings before falling on the second day of the bi-District Tournament and coming up just shy of yet another trip to the 3A state tournament.
But Johnson, who was voted Kelso’s MVP by her teammates, did everything she could to keep the Lassies playing as long as possible. She even earned BZM Athlete of the Week honors for her efforts in the postseason.
If you ask those who have coached her they’ll quickly point to Johnson’s vast volleyball knowledge and her ability to read the court as intangible reasons that she’s irreplaceable in any lineup that aims to win. She was voted to the 3A All-Greater St. Helens League first team by the coaches she played against most often.
And, if you’re looking for stats to prove the point, Johnson posted 456 assists on the season and turned up 176 digs. She was also an artist at the service stripe, with a 98 percent success rate and 37 digs to her name.
Coach of the Year
Amanda Baker, Clatskanie
Baker and her Tigers were on a mission this season, and they made it nearly all the way to the top of the mountain they’d had their eyes set on since last winter.
The Clatskanie volleyball team won itself a league title in dramatic fashion and went on to finish sixth in the OSAA 2A State Tournament. It was a campaign that was surprising to many folks, but Baker was not one of them.
“Honestly, I had high hopes after we ended our season last year when we lost out in that first round at State,” Baker said. “We just had so many freshmen and young girls who were all nerves and just needed that experience.”
Less than a calendar year later those same Tigers were battle tested and ready to win when it mattered most. It was all a matter of seasoning, and Clatskanie learned the lessons it needed along the way.
There was a four-set loss early in league play to the defending State champions from Portland Christian that would have made lesser teams sulk back home. Instead, it made the Tigers believe they could win against anyone. A couple weeks later Clatskanie made their lessons count with a sweep over Portland Christian at home that wound up making Clatskanie league champs. Baker went on to be voted Coach of the Year by her peers in the league.
And the Tigers knew how to keep things loose. Baker, who just wrapped up her fifth year as head coach, noted that her entire team covered themselves head to toe in temporary tattoos prior to one match. Those decorations were much to the chagrin of the officials, but were ultimately deemed legal by the powers that be, and hilarious to the tatted Tigers themselves.
“I think this year throwing some fun in there and keeping things loose really made a difference,” Baker said.
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