Ashland volleyball coach Tia Peterson knew her team was undertaking a big task with three Midwestern League matches in four days this week in Ashland.

All things considered, however, the Grizzlies fared pretty well with wins over Eagle Point and Thurston before finally getting a taste of their own medicine Thursday night by Crater in a straight-sets defeat, 25-19, 31-29, 25-13.

“Three games in a week was a lot for them,” Peterson said after falling to the Comets.

The second set proved to be a marathon battle in its own right, and that left the Grizzlies significantly gassed heading into the final set against Crater.

“The second game was fun and there was a lot of back-and-forth play,” said Peterson, “it was hard to recover going into that third game.”

Alexa Gugliotta had 13 kills, four digs, three aces and two blocks to help set the tone for the Comets, while Danica Huntoon and Delaney Henke each finished with eight kills. Huntoon also had three digs and five blocks.

Courtney Cox also contributed five blocks and joined Addison Benson with three kills apiece for the Comets, while Callie Aplin had nine digs and five aces, Kendall Stidham added 27 assists and four digs and Kaci Wilson had seven assists.

For Ashland, Stella Thompson paved the way with eight kills and two blocks, while Ayla Allen had five kills and five blocks and Savannah Sargent added four blocks and Savannah Elster had 20 digs.

“Our offense struggled more tonight, they have a good block,” said Peterson of the Comets.

ROSEBURG 3, SOUTH MEDFORD 0: At Roseburg, South Medford was unable to battle through some health issues and a more consistent service effort by Roseburg in suffering its first Southwest Conference defeat, 25-22, 25-19, 25-19.

Mayen Akpan provided 10 kills and seven digs and Daija Malcolm had five kills and six digs to lead the Panthers (11-7, 7-1).

SOUTH EUGENE 3, NORTH MEDFORD 0: Kristina Atonio supplied nine kills, 12 assists, three digs and one block but North Medford struggled to get over the hump in a Southwest Conference setback at home, 25-21, 26-24, 25-20.

Mackenzee Running chipped in with nine kills, six digs and two aces for the Black Tornado (14-6, 6-3 SWC).

THURSTON 3, EAGLE POINT 1: At Springfield, Thianna Deng-Gomez contributed five kills and five blocks and Kady Ledbetter sent down seven kills to complement three blocks but Eagle Point still came up short in Midwestern League play, 25-11, 27-29, 25-23, 25-20.

The Eagles (2-13, 0-8 MWL) picked up 27 digs from Karris Johnson, while Madisyn Dean had 12 digs and four aces, Blakely Schauffler finished with five kills and Evy Leonardo added 13 assists.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN 3, NORTH VALLEY 1: At Merlin, Isabel McCauley enjoyed one of her top attacking nights of the season with 18 kills to go with six aces as Cascade Christian shook off a first-set loss to earn the Southern Oregon Conference victory, 23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-18.

Poppy Freeman pounded down 16 kills and Hadley Wilcox added seven kills and four blocks to bolster the Challengers (10-5, 7-0 SOC), while Annika Byers finished with 12 digs.

ST. MARY’S 3, LAKEVIEW 0: St. Mary’s saw Ada Bernard account for 14 kills and five digs and Sebi Kim notch three kills and three blocks in a 25-17, 25-16, 25-23 Southern Oregon Conference home win.

Lexi Smith added 12 digs and Lexi Mills was 20-for-21 from the service line with two aces to go with six digs for the Crusaders, while Ella Yeamans had 23 assists and Sydney Holdermann provided five kills and five digs.

Boys Soccer

WILLAMETTE 1, SOUTH MEDFORD 0: At Eugene, Willamette scored in the 37th minute off of a failed clearance by the South Medford defense with a shot from 15 yards out to determine the outcome in the Southwest Conference match.

The Panthers (4-4-4, 2-4-3 SWC) had a one-on-one opportunity with three minutes to play but Willamette’s goalkeeper was up to the test to preserve the shutout.

SOUTH EUGENE 8, NORTH MEDFORD 0: South Eugene junior Dylan Gupta scored the match-ending goal by mercy rule in the 77th minute off a corner kick by Tomas de Andraca to help the Axe remain atop the Southwest Conference standings.

Coming off its first win, North Medford dropped to 1-9 overall and 1-7 in SWC play with the loss at Bowerman Field.

ST. MARY’S 3, ILLINOIS VALLEY 0: St. Mary’s remained tied with North Valley at 5-0 apiece atop the District 5 standings entering Tuesday’s pivotal matchup in Merlin.

St. Mary’s (8-2-1) enters that match having posted a shutout in seven straight contests.

BROOKINGS-HARBOR 2, CASCADE CHRISTIAN 1: At Brookings, Cascade Christian dropped its fourth straight match in moving to 2-8 overall and 1-5 in District 5 play.

Girls Soccer

SOUTH MEDFORD 0, WILLAMETTE 0: Jayda Dabbs and Coutney Terry led the defensive backline for South Medford to allow the Panthers to earn a draw in Southwest Conference play at home.

Willamette was denied a pair of goals due to offsides penalties, while junior goalkeeper Makayla Jordan collected six saves on 11 shots for the Panthers (2-6-4, 0-5-4 SWC).

SOUTH EUGENE 2, NORTH MEDFORD 1: At Eugene, North Medford’s Gia Rutigliano scored in the 63rd minute off an assist by Brycelin Endrikat with a shot outside of the box that got over the goalkeeper’s head but the Tornado could get no closer in the Southwest Conference match.

South Eugene (7-4-1, 6-3 SWC) had built a 2-0 lead on the advantage of successful penalty kicks in the 16th and 56th minutes to put the Black Tornado (7-3-1, 5-3) in a hole.

ST. MARY’S 3, BROOKINGS-HARBOR 1: At Brookings, Ainsley Javarone scored twice and Avery Gunn added another goal as St. Mary’s cruised to the District 4 victory.

The Crusaders improved to 9-1 overall and 8-0 in league play.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN 2, ROGUE RIVER 0: Cascade Christian secured its third straight victory with the home shutout, allowing the Challengers to move to 6-2-2 overall and 5-2-2 in league play heading into Tuesday’s match against St. Mary’s.