By James Hill
for the Herald

The screams were deafening. When the volleyball hit the court off a dink shot, the players broke out into a mass of jumping, hugging, screaming blue. Just minutes before, the Canby High School student body had chanted, "It's all over ... it's all over."

But as it turned out, it was over for Canby.

It wasn't the Canby Cougars who celebrated an important Pacific-9 Conference volleyball victory Thursday night at CHS. It was the Newberg Tigers, a perennial also-ran, that pulled off a shocking come-from-behind 16-14, 7-15, 16-14 win over the Cougars.

CHS, the defending Pac-9 champs, fell to 4-3 in league play while Newberg improved to 3-4.

"It wasn't what Newberg did, it was what we didn't do," said Canby head coach Judi Gay. "The girls were flat. Something just didn't feel right. We'd go and get a lead, and then they'd come back on us. We couldn't regain the momentum and kept sinking deeper into a hole."

It didn't appear that the Cougars would lose after giving up the opening game of the match. Canby cruised in the second game 15-7 and led 14-9 in the third. Middle blocker Ellie Raines served five straight points to get Canby on the threshold of victory before the students began the chant.

But the Cougars' passing and court awareness suddenly went south as Newberg reeled off seven consecutive points to take the match. The Tigers won on a deflected dink shot over the middle net that fell untouched to the hardwood.

With that, the Newberg players broke out in celebration, letting loose years of frustration.

The loss ruined a wonderful match by 5-foot-10 middle blocker Michelle Boeckman. The junior collected 27 digs, five blocks, four kills and was a perfect 13-of-13 from the serve line. In fact, the whole team was an astonishing 71-of-71 on serves.

"I felt my game is getting better," Boeckman said, "although I always feel like I have room for improvement. We worked on our serving in part because of what happened at Forest Grove. We handed that match to them."

Also having solid matches were two middle blocking seniors. Raines had 24 digs and five kills, while Caitlin O'Connor collected 24 digs, five kills and four blocks. O'Connor was also 22-for-22 on her serves to lead the team.

Another senior, Jenny Lawrence, contributed a team-high nine kills and 14 digs.

Natalie Postlewait and Tori Beck each had five digs while Justine Rhodes finished with six. Setter Jamie Schantin had 13 digs, two kills, and was 10-of-10 from the serve line. Danielle Palmer had five digs, and Jamie Schuknecht added one dig.

Afterward, it took the Canby players awhile to shake the sting of losing to the Tigers, especially after coming so close to getting the victory. The Cougars had numerous chances to put the scrappy Tigers away, especially in the opening game, which Canby led 12-5 at one point.

But passing errors doomed the home team and allowed a team with little confidence to feel like it had all the luck in the world on its side.

"We kind of just went through the motions," Gay said. "We didn't pick it up. That isn't good enough."

Canby returned to the court for a David Douglas tournament Saturday and ended up winning three of four pool-play matches before getting beat in bracket play.

The girls lost 13-15, 14-16 to David Douglas to open the day but quickly recovered to knock off Roosevelt (15-6, 15-2), Corvallis (15-7, 15-11) and Grant (15-5, 15-13).

That sent the Cougars up against Redmond, which prevailed 15-9, 15-11 to eliminate CHS.

"We did well overall but had to make do without Caitlin, who hurt her arm in the Corvallis match," Gay said. "That took away one of our best passers and forced us to mix up our lineup. Still, the girls played well."

The coach singled out Boeckman, who had three aces against Corvallis, and Schantin, who had four aces against Grant.

The girls also dropped a 4-15, 11-15 match to Forest Grove last Tuesday, a night in which Canby passed poorly and never quite recovered from a lackluster first game.

The team hosted McMinnville Tuesday and visits Forest Grove Thursday. The team also plays in a Westview tournament on Saturday at 8 a.m.