Westview volleyball dropped one spot to No. 4 in the Sept. 29 OSAAtoday 6A coaches poll, published by the Beaverton Valley Times.
The Wildcats collected 65 poll points with a 12-2 record through Sept. 24, down from No. 3 in the Sept. 15 poll. South Salem (12-2, 80 points) jumped ahead of Westview to claim the third spot. Sprague (11-2, 97 points) held No. 1 with seven first-place votes, and Jesuit (9-1, 96 points) stayed at No. 2.
The one-spot slide follows a five-set loss to Jesuit on Sept. 24 at Westview High School. The Wildcats won the first two sets 30-28 and 27-25 before Jesuit took the final three, according to the Hillsboro News Times. Jesuit has won three straight 6A state championships.
The poll's records reflect results posted on the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) website through Sept. 24. Since then, Westview bounced back with a win over Forest Grove on Monday, Sept. 28, and sits at 13-3 overall and 3-1 in Metro League play, according to MaxPreps. That puts the Wildcats second in the 6A Metro behind Jesuit, which leads at 4-0 in league.
The poll is unofficial and has no bearing on the OSAA ratings used to seed playoff brackets.
The ranking caps a climb for head coach Janelle Brandt's squad, which opened the year tied at No. 7 in the preseason poll and reached No. 3 by mid-September. Six seniors lead the roster, including four-year varsity captains Ashlyn Pedersen, Mady Lebeck and Abbey Meier. Pedersen earned first-team all-league honors last season as a hitter, Lebeck as a libero, and Meier was a second-team hitter.
"Our overall goal is to make it back to state, and we're using last year's loss as motivation to get there," Brandt said in a Sept. 14 season preview. The Wildcats missed the state tournament last season for the first time in four years.
Westview travels to Southridge on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 6:45 p.m. The Wildcats then host Mountainside on Tuesday, Oct. 6, visit Beaverton on Thursday, Oct. 8, and host Sunset on Monday, Oct. 12. A rematch at Jesuit follows on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
