R.A. Long battled back from a two-game deficit to win Game 3 in a thriller, but league-leading Mark Morris yanked back momentum and cruised to a victory over the Lumberjills in Greater St. Helens 2A volleyball action at Ted M. Natt Court on Thursday.

Game scores for the Monarchs were 25-14, 25-17, 23-25, 25-9. MM topped the Jills in five games earlier this season at the Lumberdome.

“We had a few too many errors and were tentative in that third game, and they (the Jills) earned it,” Monarchs coach

Lisa Verage said. “But we came back strong in the fourth game. Alesha (Schulz) had a nice stretch of service points to keep us going.”

Schulz finished with 19 points in the match, to go along with seven aces and nine digs. Shantelle Savage had a huge match at the net with 11 kills and defensively with 16 digs, and Danielle Gilchrist (28 assists, six kills), Jill Isaacson (16 service points, 14 digs), Lindsay Cappa (nine digs), Kinzi Williams (eight kills) and Shawna Smith (six kills) also played well.

“In the first two games, we were consistent and a variety of hitters got the job done,” Verage added. “We didn’t have one go-to person. We kept the ball in play and worked together.”

The Monarchs (10-2, 7-1 league) finish the regular season next week at Washougal (Tuesday) and home against Hockinson (Thursday).

For the Jills (4-4 league), Hannah Johnson led the way with 10 kills and 19 assists, Katie Sarsyz had 12 kills and two blocks, and Miranda Wilson passed well.

“My team let me know (Wednesday) that when they play together, they play well. And when they don’t play together, they don’t play well,” RAL coach Jennifer Hefley said. “We were hoping we’d play together against Mark Morris. But we didn’t.”

Hefley was pleased with her team’s effort in the third game. But that was it.

“We worked hard in Game 3 after being down early. But we had a hard time keeping the momentum,” she said. “After we got down in the fourth game, we had people let down. Pretty soon it was five on six, then four on six, then three on six. It was like we never had a full team out there except at the end of the third game.”

The Jills travel to Ridgefield on Tuesday.

GSHL 2A Standings

Mark Morris               7-1

Hockinson                6-2

Ridgefield                 5-3

R.A. Long                  4-4

Woodland                 2-6

Washougal               0-8

Thursday’s results

Mark Morris 3, R.A. Long 1

Woodland 3, Washougal 0

Hockinson 3, Ridgefield 1

Tuesday (all 7 p.m.)

Mark Morris at Washougal

R.A. Long at Ridgefield

Woodland at Hockinson