For better or worse, Irish get long break.

Byline: STEVE MIMS The Register-Guard

There are some advantages to a two-week break for the Sheldon volleyball team.

"We are a little banged up, so hopefully we can heal up and our hitters will be at full speed," Sheldon coach Cathy Nelson said.

And on the other hand, there are disadvantages to having 14 days off between the end of the regular season and the Class 4A state tournament.

"I thought some good things were happening at the end of the season, so that makes the break hard," Nelson said. "Two weeks without a competition when you have been playing twice a week is a long time. We're going to practice this week and do some non-volleyball bonding things, but then next week we will hit it hard in preparation for state."

The state tournament runs Nov. 8-9 in Portland and has a new format this year, as pool play makes its debut. Instead of a 16-team single-elimination tournament, the 16 teams will be split into four pools of four, with the top two teams advancing into an eight-team single-elimination bracket.

"For a team with a long break like us, it allows you to play for a little bit to get to your peak," Nelson said. "In past years, you couldn't lose and still have a chance to win state. Now you can lose and still move on. However, we haven't been a very good pool-play team in two tournaments this year, so we have to play well coming out of the blocks."

Sheldon, the Midwestern League champion ranked eighth in the latest state poll, is in Pool 3 along with second-ranked West Linn, which won back-to-back state titles in 1998-99. The other two teams in the pool will be determined by this week's sub-tournament, but either sixth-ranked Central Catholic or No. 7 Roseburg is likely to be there.

The Irish started the league schedule with 12 consecutive wins and closed with three straight victories following its lone loss to Thurston.

Seniors Ashley Bevens and Lina Vasquez and junior Jaclyn Hamilton-Smith were first-team all-league selections for the Irish. Sophomore Amanda Bevens was a second-team pick.

"We have nobody over 6 feet tall and we're not that old, but these girls are gamers and they know how to fight," said Nelson, who was voted league coach of the year.

Thurston won its final 10 league matches to place second at 14-2 and will need to win one sub-tournament game to reach the state tournament. Thurston will host Crater, Dallas or Reynolds on Thursday, with the likely opponent being No. 10 Reynolds, the third-place finisher out of the Mount Hood Conference.

Didier Hemelsoet, who guided Churchill to state last year, took over the Colts this year, and the team and coach took awhile to adjust to each other.

"We were struggling a bit at the beginning of the season, but now everyone is getting on the same line," Hemelsoet said. "Everyone was going their own way at the beginning, but once we got lined up in the same direction, we have played better and better. Our game in general has improved in the second half of the year."

Thurston's Allyson Leavitt was a first-team all-league selection, and Emily Bowden was a second-team pick. Breanna Hodges, Elyse Schmunk and Brittany Postle were each third-team picks.

If Thurston can get to state, it would appear to have a favorable draw in Pool 1. Pendleton and Sprague, both unranked league champions, are in that pool along with two teams that survive the sub-tournament.

South Eugene has to win two matches on the road to reach the state tournament. The Axemen will travel to St. Helens on Wednesday to face the Lions, who placed third in the Three Rivers League. The winner of that match travels to Mountain View, the Intermountain Conference runner-up, on Friday night with a berth to state on the line.

Heron Calisch-Dolen, Brianna McLeod and Sondrea Larsen were second-team all-league selections for the Axemen, while Emily Seider was a third-team pick.