Last year, The Dalles did not have a single team win, were scratching for individual victories and every player was eliminated in the first round of district action. This past weekend at the Intermountain Conference girls tennis tournament on the Ridgeview High School campus in Redmond, every player was in at least the second round or better and four out of the eight quarterfinal matches between singles and doubles were filled with Hawk players.
In two league matchups with Pendleton, the Lady Buckaroos have been able to get the close wins when it counted. Earlier in the season, Pendleton won 11-10 on total sets won, and Tuesday, they secured three doubles victories and tacked on a pair of wins on the singles side, two of those decisions coming in close third-set tiebreakers in a 5-3 triumph.
One goal Debby Jones and her tennis players had for the district tournament was to win at least two matches. Natalie Varland and Lupita Contreras posted a No. 1 doubles victory and the No. 3 pairing of Pearl Guzman and Karla Najera added a win to their record to lead The Dalles girls’ tennis team at the two-day Special District 1 district tournament held at Sunriver in Bend.
The Dalles girls’ tennis team squared off against a tough Wilsonville team on the road Monday and had the No. 1 doubles tandem of Lupita Contreras and Natalie Varland step up their game with an impressive three-set triumph, as Wilsonville tallied an 8-1 home victory.
The Dalles High School junior Natalie Varland read the bi-lingual Spanish book she wrote to some second graders at Colonel Wright Elementary, then asked: “Did I pronounce everything right?” She had. For eight years now, TDHS Spanish teacher Brian Greeley has had his students create their own 10-12 page illustrated bi-lingual children’s stories, which they then read to younger students at Colonel Wright.
Although dwindled down in roster size because of illness and injuries, The Dalles swim coach Shea MacNab found a way to shuffle things around with several athletes in different events in an effort to maximize their performances. Natalie Varland and Caleb Miller turned in runner-up finishes, and the varsity swimmers notched nine top-8 outputs at the Hood River Invite Saturday.
Natalie Varland and Peter Cardosi lit it up on the individual side, and both the boys’ and girls’ relay teams claimed top-5 status at the Riverhawk Invitational Meet Saturday from the Hood River Aquatic Center.
It looked as though the state journeys of seniors Hannah Weeks and Molly Taylor were dashed. In a stroke of luck, however, the Riverhawk duo, along with Bree Webber and Natalie Varland were given wild card invitations for this weekend’s OSAA State Swimming Championships at the Mt. Hood Aquatic Center in Gresham.
HOOD RIVER – Molly Nelson and Natalie Varland each had individual wins, and both the boys and girls 200-yard freestyle relay teams added victories to lead The Dalles Swim Team at the Hood River Invitational Saturday.
Relay team, Clifford and Varland drop district times
