By Mike Weber
For Columbia Gorge News
HOOD RIVER — The Hood River Valley boys and girls water polo teams competed in a tournament Sept. 19-20 at the Hood River Aquatic Center, where both squads enjoyed success notching impressive non-league wins.
The Eagle girls squad, guided by longtime Coach Kellie Dunn, won 13-3 over the Barlow High Bruins Sept. 19. The Eagles won all five of their games while playing Class 6A squads at the two-day tournament.
“We are finding our footing this season after our fourth-place finish in the state tournament last year,” said Dunn. “The team is really showing some incredible team chemistry and we’re building momentum in the first few weeks of games.”
The Eagles are in first place in the Class 6A Mt. Hood Conference standings after early season wins over Barlow, Grant and David Douglas. The No. 4-ranked Eagles have been led offensively by leading scorer Layla Williams, who has 15 points and six assists. Nyxey Heredia has 14 points and eight assists.
“We have already improved a lot and we’re looking forward to trying to get a win in our next game,” said Dunn. “We just wrapped up a very successful home tournament last weekend and we walked away with a first-place finish.”
The Eagles will play their next contest, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. at home versus the Summit High Storm (2-0 league, 6-1 overall), last year’s 5A state champion.
“I’m excited about how the team is coming together,” said Dunn. “They have been working so hard to improve. The way they’ve started to read each other in a game is opening up a lot of possibilities and allowing us to move the ball around more efficiently.”
The Eagles will compete in a tournament, Sept. 26-27 at Newberg, followed by a Sept. 29, 5 p.m. home game against the Lincoln High Cardinals.
Eagle boys win two matches
The Hood River Valley Eagles boys water polo team won two matches at its home tournament this past weekend. The No. 8-ranked Eagles, guided by third-year Coach Cael Price, won 12-4 over the Sheldon High Irish of Eugene and 10-1 over Lincoln (0-6) of Portland.
“I am very proud of how the team is coming together,” said Price. “Our group of boys has been extremely positive and cohesive, which is amazing to see. We’ve played against plenty of strong teams so far this year. I’ve been impressed with how much they’ve learned from those games and applied new skills and ideas to subsequent games.”
The Eagles (1-0 Central League, 6-8 overall) had rough start on the first day of the tournament as they lost three times. The Eagles lost,12-0, to the Barlow High Bruins, 10-5, to the Grant High Generals and, 12-6, to the Mountain View High Cougars of Bend.
“The puzzle pieces are falling into place with our team one by one,” said Price. “It’s obvious with every game that the boys are becoming more confident and we have been playing some seriously competitive water polo.”
The Eagles will play Sept. 25 and 29 at home at 6 p.m., first against the Summit High Storm and then against Lincoln.
Commented