Missions accomplished for the Hood River Valley girls and boys water polo teams last week, as they earned spots into this weekend’s state championship tournament in Corvallis.
The HRV girls, who entered the Class 5A/4A eight-team state playoffs as the No. 1 seed, defeated No. 8-seed Bend, 18-5, in a play-in game Nov. 3 at Osborn Aquatic Center. It was Hood River’s third win this season over Bend — 14-5 on Oct. 8 and 11-1 on Oct. 22.
The Eagles (18-4), who lost just two seniors to graduation from their 2021 state runner-up team, will return to Osborn on Friday and play No. 4 seed Ashland in one semifinal match at 12:10 p.m. West Albany plays Hillsboro in the other girls semifinal. Winners in the semis advance to Saturday’s 3 p.m. championship. The girls third-place game is at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
HRV’s girls program is seeking its fourth state championship in the past seven years; the Eagles won titles in 2016, 2017 and 2019.
The Hood River boys, seeded No. 3, won their play-in match 19-2 over Mt. View of Bend on Nov. 3. (The Eagle boys had beaten Mt. View 25-6 when they played earlier this season.)
The win pus HRV (17-6) into Friday’s boys semifinals against No. 2 seed West Albany at 3:40 p.m. Top-seeded Summit of Bend plays Hillsboro in the other semifinal. The boys championship is Saturday at 4:15 p.m.
The Eagle teams, the girls coached by Kellie Dunn and the boys by Coach Garrett Hall, each won titles in 2019. There’s some recent history between Hood River and its semifinal opponents. A year ago, Hood River’s boys team ran into a hot West Albany squad, losing 11-6 in the 5A final. In the girls 2021 5A championship, Ashland held off an HRV second-half comeback to win the crown, 10-8. Ashland, which won the 5A title in 2008, took a 7-2 halftime lead, before HRV mounted its comeback.
Hood River was third in the boys tourney in both 2017 and 2018.
Hood River’s experienced girls state playoff lineup includes Emma Titus, a first-team all-tourney selection in 2021, as well as second-team picks, Sophie Cross, and goalie Esme Price.
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