HOOD RIVER - The Hood River Valley High Eagles Class 5A boys and girls water polo teams each won games last week to improve their regular season records and get ready for the state playoffs.
The No. 4-ranked Eagle girls’ squad, guided by longtime Coach Kellie Dunn, won an Oct. 23, road game, 16-5, over Bend (0-9) at Juniper Swim Center in Bend. Dunn said: “Their team is rebuilding a bit this season. Our hard pressure defense led to a lot of steals and counter-attack goals for us in the first quarter. After that, we controlled the tempo of the game by just running our offense efficiently. We got a lot of exposure time for our bench and it was great to see the scoring spread out among so many players.”
The Eagles followed with a season-high total in goals in a 23-5 home win over Redmond (0-4) at the Hood River Aquatic Center. “Redmond was a well-organized team, but they couldn’t keep up with our fast-paced attack mode,” said Dunn. “We went out super hard early and we got a lot of counter-attack goals in the first quarter. We then looked to control our pace a bit more and we worked on getting some offensive plays to help spread the scoring around with our players.”
The Eagles (2-2 league) are in second place in the six-team North League standings behind the Summit Storm (5-0 league, 14-2 overall). “It always feels good to have super solid league wins so close to the upcoming state playoffs,” said Dunn. “The team is really working well together and they’re reading each other well in the pool. It’s been fun seeing them clicking and finding the creative passes and sweet shot opportunities. I’m hoping that the momentum will keep rolling into the state tournament (Nov. 6-7) so that we can peak at just the right time.”
Eagle boys lose to Bend
The No. 8-ranked HRV boys water polo team, guided by Coach Cael Price, lost an overtime matchup, 12-10, on Oct. 23 at No. 10-ranked Bend (9-6), snapping a 10-game win streak.
Price said: “The boys have shown great improvement over the past few weeks, as seen by our win streak. The loss to Bend was a small blip in our momentum. We have been playing some high-level water polo as we head into the final week of the regular season.”
The Eagles (3-2 Central League, 14-9 overall) were seeking to bounce back in an Oct. 27 senior night home game versus West Albany.
“We are well positioned for postseason play this year, with the door still open to earn a first-round bye after the results of our last regular season games,” said Price. “We’re focused on staying healthy and fine tuning our game this week to help us prepare for the state tournament (Nov. 6-7).”
The Eagles are in second place in the six-team Central League standings behind Bend.
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