HOOD RIVER — The Hood River Valley boys and girls water polo teams have had rough starts to their non-league schedules, facing Class 6A squads en route to 0-3 won/loss records.
The Oregon Class 5A defending three-time state champion Eagle girls squad lost the season opener of their 18-game schedule, 16-1, to the Lakeridge High Pacers (3-0) in Lake Oswego. The Eagles, guided by 11th year Coach Kellie Dunn, followed with two home defeats at the Hood River Aquatic Center. The Eagles lost, 20-3, to the Lake Oswego High Lakers (1-1) Sept. 9, followed by, 15-4, loss to the Newberg High Tigers (3-1) Sept. 11.
HRV’s Grace Roulette gets ready to serve.
Photo by Ryan Arndt
“We’re starting our season off by playing a lot of really top-level Class 6A teams,” said Dunn, who has guided the Eagles to six state titles during her HRV coaching career. “That’s something that we typically do and it kind of helps us become more competitive as we prepare for Class 5A league play. That’s the main part of our game plan for the season.”
The Eagles compete in the six-team Class 5A Central League with Bend, Summit, Mountain View, Redmond and Ridgeview. The Eagles also play non-league games in the 6A Mt. Hood League with Barlow, David Douglas, Grant and Gresham. Following a Sept. 16 matchup against the Barlow High Bruins, the Eagles will play in a home tournament Sept. 20-21.
HRV boys
The Hood River Valley Eagles boys opened their 18-game schedule with a, 16-2, non-league loss to Lakeridge (5-1) Sept. 3 in Lake Oswego. The Eagles, guided by second-year Coach Cael Price, followed with a 15-0 non-league home loss Sept. 9 to Lake Oswego (6-1) and a 17-6 non-league road loss to Newberg (7-0) Sept. 11.
“We’ve been competing against a lot of 6A schools, and our first three games were non-league games against very strong teams,” said Price, whose squad faced the Barlow High Bruins at home on Sept. 16. “It’s been a tough start so far this season. We have a pretty young teams with just two seniors and two juniors. We have lots of sophomores and freshmen, which is challenging when we play big schools that have lots of juniors and seniors.”
Judah Mann of HRV tosses the ball across the pool.
Photo by Ryan Arndt
The Eagles will play in a tournament at home on Sept. 20, followed by a match-up against the Summit High Storm (2-2) in their next game Sept. 27 in Hood River. The Eagles compete in the six-team Class 5A Central League with Bend, Mountain View, Redmond, Ridgeview and Summit. The Eagles also play non-league games versus Class 6A Mt. Hood League schools Barlow, Gresham, David Douglas and Grant.
“We’re looking forward to playing teams in our 5A conference soon so that we can have more competitive games,” said Price, who led his Eagles to fourth place in the 2024 state playoffs.
Commented