It’s very early in the OSAA Class 5A volleyball season, but the much improved Hood River Valley High Eagles have already nearly equaled their win total from a year ago after just five games.
The Eagles, who won only four games last year, captured their third straight victory with a 3-0 Northwest Oregon Conference win over the Parkrose High Broncos (0-6) in their home opener Aug. 31 at Hood River Valley High School. Hood River seniors Abby Kelly (nine kills) and Marina Casteneda (five kills) helped lead the Eagles to the win with their solid offensive performance. Senior setters Megan Griggs and Ryann Rosselle had more than 65 set attempts with zero errors.
The Eagles, guided by first-year head Coach Susie Preston, were seeking to get a fourth straight win Tuesday versus the Centennial High Eagles (1-1) in Gresham (result was after the printed edition deadline).
“Things are going pretty good and we’re definitely moving in the right direction and we’re working together well as a team,” Preston said. “To be honest, every single girl on our 14-player roster had some significant amount of playing time versus Parkrose, so that was definitely a team win. It’s been awhile since Hood River has enjoyed a win streak and I hope that it continues.”
The Eagles started their win streak with a 3-0 road win over the Class 6A Reynolds High Raiders (0-3) Aug. 26. They followed with a 3-1 win over the Canby High Cougars Aug. 29 at Canby High School in their Northwest Oregon Conference opener.
“Prior to the game with Parkrose, I told our starters that they needed to go out and get that first set, and the other girls needed their support in order to get some playing time,” Preston said. “The starters did exactly what I asked them to do, which was to keep the errors to a minimum. Everyone felt a little nervous, since it was our first home game and we had a large crowd too. They started to settle down a little and get more comfortable about the middle of the first set.”
Hood River’s starting lineup includes Casteneda, Aspen Fridley, Kelly, Rosselle, Griggs, Emily Doss and Abri Lopez.
“We had some great swings from Abby, who also played a great game at Canby too,” Preston said. “Abby really started warming up in the Parkrose game and so we were really feeding her the ball quite a bit just because she was on fire and hitting so well. Megan Griggs also had a great game versus Canby and she followed up with a lot of really hard serving against Parkrose.”
The Eagles will be seeking to continue their early season momentum when they play a two NWOC home games Thursday in a three-way event with the defending league champion Wilsonville Wildcats (1-0) and the Putnam Kingsmen (0-2). The Eagles play Wilsonville in their first contest at 4:30 p.m., followed by the second game at 7:30 p.m.
The Eagles will play their annual Gorge rivalry match-up versus The Dalles Riverhawks Sept. 12 at home at 6:45 p.m. The Riverhawks (1-0) won last year’s contest 3-0 in The Dalles.
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