Dufur finishes second at 1A state tourney

THE GORGE — Big Sky League district champion Dufur capped its banner girls volleyball season with a runner-up finish at the Nov. 6-7 OSAA Class 1A state tournament at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.

The Rangers (23-4), who qualified for the tourney for the first time since 2014, lost in four close sets to North Lake from Central Oregon — 25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23 — in the Nov. 7 title match. The Cowgirls (20-5) won the school’s first state volleyball crown behind consistent serving and a front line led by senior Acacia Roth and junior Viktoria Baker.

The teams split the first two sets, and North Lake took a 2-1 set lead with a 25-20 victory in the third set. The Cowgirls used a 6-0 run to build a 21-11 lead and held off the Rangers despite being outscored 9-4 down the stretch. There were four more ties before a North Lake tip point and a Dufur hitting error ended the match.

Dufur advanced to the final with a five-set thriller over Joseph in the Nov. 6 semifinals after a 3-0 first round win earlier in the day over Echo. In that match, Dufur caught fire behind the front-line play of seniors Cadence Young, Hailee Pechanec, and Ainslee Eisland. Young and Pechanec were mainstays at the net, and Eisland served out the 25-18 first set with a 5-0 scoring run.

Pechanec was a unanimous first-team all-tourney selection; Young also was a first-team pick; and Eisland earned second team honors.

The Rangers were fueled by a 13-1 scoring run to end the second set, 25-9, and had an 8-0 run to start the deciding set.

Such scoring runs were harder to come by for either team in Dufur’s marathon — 14-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16, 15-10 — semifinal win over Joseph. There were four ties and three lead changes in the final set. Joseph called a timeout trailing 10-8 and the Eagles pulled within one on a push shot for a point. Young had a kill shot, a tip point and a stuff block giving Dufur a 13-9 advantage.

Miranda Prettyman, one of seven seniors for Coach Crystal Pechanec, added a kill shot setting up match point. Joseph staved off one match point, but the Eagles misplayed a return and Dufur moved on to the Saturday evening final.

Dufur finished second on its previous trip to the state tourney in 2014. The Rangers have four 1A volleyball state championships to their credit and have been second four times, as well.

Sherman competes at state

Eventual third-place finisher Joseph advanced to its semifinal match vs. Dufur with a 3-1 win over Sherman County in the Nov. 6 first round. The Huskies lost 25-14, 25-27, 25-11, 25-17, and then lost Nov. 7 in consolation play, 3-0, to Echo.

Sherman senior Kiara Peters was selected by coaches to the second-team all-tournament for her play at state.