The No. 3 ranked Tri-Valley Conference champion The Dalles High Riverhawks are going to the “big dance”, otherwise known as the OSAA Class 4A volleyball state tournament.
The Riverhawks qualified for the tournament for the first time since 2001, following a 25-12, 25-14, 25-15 win over the Scappoose High Indians on Oct. 29 at The Dalles High School’s Kurtz Gym. The Riverhawks brought home the fifth-place trophy in 2001.
The Riverhawks, guided by Tri-Valley Conference Coach-of-the-Year Julie Summers, will play a 10 a.m. state quarterfinal contest Friday against the No. 6 ranked Skyline Conference champion Mazama High Vikings (7-1 league, 15-7 overall). Mazama reached the tournament following an Oct. 29 first-round playoff home win over the No. 11 ranked North Bend High Bulldogs (12-10). The tourney is at Springfield High School.
“We’re in the Elite Eight and I’m absolutely so very proud of these girls,” said Summers. “Everything they do from here on out is just icing on the cake for us. We set out doing what we wanted to do by winning the conference championship.
“The girls have worked hard all year. They’re great kids, they’ve got a lot of heart and they’ll fight no matter what happens. One of the biggest things that we worked on this year is that we’re team players and we play for each other.”
The winner of the quarterfinal match advances to play in Friday’s 6:30 p.m. semifinal against the winner of Henley vs. Cascade. The quarterfinal loser plays in Saturday’s 10 a.m. consolation round.
“If our girls go out there and play their game hands down, I think we’re the best team in the state right now,” said Summers.
For the six Riverhawk seniors, advancing to state enables them to experience the excitement and thrills of a state tournament for the first time ever.
“It’s been a super great season and it’s definitely much better than last year,” said senior libero Lydia DiGennaro. “We’ve been working together very well as a team this year, which has really been the key for the success that we’ve had this year. At the beginning of the season, we all made a long-term goal, and everyone’s goal was to go to state and it’s happening now and it’s just crazy. We accomplished our goal and I think we have a really good chance to win the championship.”
Against Scappoose, the Riverhawks took an early set one lead, 8-1, to force an Indian timeout. The Riverhawks extended their lead to 15-5, led by junior Kaleyah Crichton-Tunai, who served five straight service points in a 7-4 rally.
An ace served by junior Zoe LeBreton made it 19-10. Lilly Adams, Zoe Dunn, and Tri-Valley Conference Player-of-the-Year Kennedy Abbas each pounded kills to put the Riverhawks ahead, 23-12. Junior setter Jeilane Stewart then served back-to-back service aces for the set one win.
“It was one of my long-term goals to win that award, so I felt really good to achieve that goal,” said Abbas. “I had a lot of little, short-term goals, too, like focusing on each game at a time.
“We just need to go out there ready to play and focus on one point at a time and one game at a time in order to make it to the top. … We packed “The Pit” pretty well here today, which was really nice to see.”
The Dalles jumped in front 6-0 in set two behind Stewart’s serving. Scappoose came back with a 6-2 rally, forcing a Riverhawk timeout. The Riverhawks led 15-11 on an ace by Stewart and a LeBreton ace later made it 19-11 to cap a 4-0 run. Senior outside hitter Kaylee Fleming then hit a set-winning shot to the floor for the 11-point win in set two.
“This is so nice because we’ve never been to the state playoffs and it’s nice to make it in my senior year,” said Fleming. “We’ve been practicing really hard all year so it’s nice to show that we really know what we’re doing.”
Scappoose held a 3-0 lead in the third set, but The Dalles came back and went up 10-9. At 14-12, Stewart worked her service magic again with eight consecutive points. Abbas capped the 25-14 win with a kill.
“It was so much fun today with everybody coming out here; I just love all the hype and I’m so excited to be going to the state tournament,” said Stewart. “I love the atmosphere here in Kurtz Gym. I’m looking forward to playing in the tournament. I know that our team can pull together and I believe in our ability to go really far in the tournament.”
Riverhawk players who also earned TVC all-league awards included Abbas, Stewart and LeBreton, who each earned selections for first team. Seniors DiGennaro and Zoe Dunn earned second team honors and Adams was selected honorable mention.
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