Turnabout proved to be fair play Tuesday night in the crosstown rivalry between St. Mary’s and Cascade Christian’s volleyball programs.

The visiting Crusaders were able to snap a modest four-match losing streak to the Challengers with an inspired effort in the pivotal fifth and final set, securing a back-and-forth Southern Oregon Conference win in the Cascade gym, 25-22, 18-25, 25-22, 13-25, 15-4.

St. Mary’s outside hitter Ada Bernard collected 28 kills with four blocks and joined fellow junior libero Lexi Smith with 12 digs apiece, while sophomore setter Ella Yeamans added 34 assists, 11 digs and was 23-for-24 serving with two aces.

“Our girls played great,” said St. Mary’s head coach Katie Miller. “They were pretty consistent with only a few drops in momentum. Our defense basically saved us. We’re a very scrappy team and we were able to put up a lot of balls that helped us continue to play and we were able to take advantage of some of it.”

Cascade Christian had won the four previous matchups in straight sets against St. Mary’s, which earned a rare season sweep in the series in 2022 with a pair of wins but had otherwise lost 24-plus prior to that breakthrough year.

So, yeah, when the opportunity arose to potentially walk away victorious and pull into a tie atop the SOC standings, the Crusaders really took that fifth set seriously after they kind of let emotions get the best of them in the fourth set Tuesday night.

“We struggled in the fourth set so we had to kind of reevaluate and kind of regroup,” said Miller. “The girls came out with some extra fuel to finish it. They really wanted it and they pulled through. They played lights out that fifth set.”

Cascade Christian saw its four-match winning streak come to an end despite 14 kills, 11 digs and four aces from senior outside hitter Poppy Freeman and eight kills and four blocks from senior middle blocker Julia Brehm. Senior outside hitter Isabel McCauley contributed 12 kills and two aces and junior Grace McCauley had 19 digs.