High school volleyball: Rams don't miss the chance to beat Oly

The Highland Rams volleyball team has spent much of the season discussing opportunities and how easy it is to miss them without the right kind of focus.

The team almost let an opportunity to take control of the region race slip through its fingers Tuesday night.

"Here was an opportunity almost lost," said Rams head volleyball coach Clint Barnes after Highland held on to defeat a determined Olympus squad 25-13, 25-21, 24-26, 26-24. "There's Alli (Spurrier) with a third-degree ankle sprain, she wanted to step in and win. She almost brought that team back, her and Maline (Vaitai)."

The Rams controlled sets one and two with smart offensive play and hustle defense. Then, in the third set, the Rams made mistakes and seemed to be out of sync as the Titans came-from-behind behind the powerful hitting of Spurrier and Vaitai and the tough net play of Karliann Ence.

"Game three was an opportunity lost," Barnes said. "We had too many errors. Against a good team, you can't make that many errors."

The fourth game was just as close, but this time, the Rams were able to remain focused and came up with some big plays when it mattered most.

One of the most exciting, and important, plays in the final set was a dig from Sela Matemate that allowed Kave Leaatoa to earn her 10th kill and give the Rams a 23-22 lead. More importantly, it gave them confidence at a critical moment.

Leaatoa said the team wasn't out to avenge its earlier loss to Olympus.

"I think our biggest motivation is just to win," she said. "We just have more chemistry as a team now and we're just playing hard and practicing hard. That helped us in this game."

She said the win felt good, as does the Rams' place atop the standings.

"We didn't know much about our region," the senior hitter said. "We're here and we like where we are at this point."

Barnes praised Olympus, a squad he called among the top handful of 4A teams, as well as senior middle hitter Niki Lolohea. She led the team in kills with 15, and she contributed in almost every way Tuesday night.

"Nikki had a very nice game," Barnes said. "For four years, that's the kind of player Niki is. When it's a big game, she comes on. She's very focused; she led us on offense; she led us on defense. She just had a great game."

Setter Lolo Matemate distributed the ball well for the Rams, while Sela Matemate added 12 kills in the win.

Despite the disappointment of losing, Olympus coach Sam Vaitai called it a "great game."

"We'll learn from it," he said.

e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com