Cool Moscow wins 4A
Moscow Bears. Undefeated. State champions.
That says it all.
The Inland Empire League champions capped a 29-0 season in the State 4A title match by beating Skyview for the second time in nine hours, 19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-22 Saturday night at Lake City High School.
“This is a team of eight seniors who have been playing together now for eight years,” sophomore setter Maddie Dolny said. “I’ve been fortunate to play with them for the last two years, and it has been an incredible experience. They deserve this.
“And I am going to miss them all so much when they’re gone.”
The undefeated season did not come easily down the stretch. Moscow came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Bonneville Friday, and staked Skyview to a 2-1 lead in games in the semifinal Saturday afternoon.
In the rematch with the Hawks from southern Idaho, the Bears dropped the first game before roaring back to claim the championship trophy.
In the process, Moscow drew on strengths from a number of standout seniors.
Friday it was the unflappable optimism of Meredith Dolny, who refused to allow her teammates to get frustrated.
Saturday, it was the fiery Scott who sparked her teammates to victory.
“When Kelly smiles, I know we’re going to be OK,” Maddie Dolny said. “I love it when my hitters smile. Kelly is so good on our slide play – that’s her best play and that was almost unstoppable.”
Equally unstoppable was 6-foot-3 middle hitter Kelsey Taylor. Easily the tournament’s most intimidating hitter, Taylor unleashed 22 kills, many of them thundering shots from on high, and seven blocks.
Taylor, who routinely sits out the back-row half of her rotation, consistently had the freshest legs on the court – leaping higher with the game on the line than at any other.
“When you’re so close to realizing your goal, it just starts to take over,” Taylor admitted.
“Kelsey is just a gamer,” Moscow coach Aimee Graham said. “You can probably tell just by watching her, but nobody – NOBODY – wants to win more than Kelsey.”
“It’s awfully tempting to go to Kelsey every play, because more often than not, she’s going to hit a winner,” Maddie Dolny said. “There were a lot of plays where we decoy to Kelsey and then go away from her. Teams have to pay attention to her and we were able to use that to our advantage.”
Graham praised her sophomore setter.
“I don’t think I can give her enough credit for the job she did all season long,” she said. “To have so many seniors on the team, and to have one of them be her big sister, that’s a lot of pressure.”
Through it all, the Bears remembered to have fun – even under the pressure of a state title game.
Skyview coach Kevin Murphy tried to ice server Maddie Dolny by questioning a libero substitution – a situation that stretched into a full 5-minute delay.
How did Moscow react to the ploy? When the loudspeaker broke into a recording of Jimmy Buffet’s “Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude,” the Bears broke into a spontaneous line dance – leading 22-21 in the final game of most of their high school careers.
“No way were going to lose this one,” senior middle hitter Kelly Scott said. “All season long, whenever we got tired or started to get down, all anyone had to say was ‘State.’ That always got us going.”
Equally unflappable was Graham, who set the perfect tone for her senior-dominated team. No one cheered louder for her team’s successes. And when things turned grim, no one was more calm.
“I try very hard not to get down or show how nervous I am,” she explained. “I make myself hoarse cheering for them when they do great things, but I don’t want them to see me panic. If I stay calm, they’re going to stay calm.”