Hood River splits NWOC volleyball matches

HOOD RIVER — Hood River Valley (HRV) beat visiting Wilsonville for the first time in a Northwest Oregon Conference (NWOC) girls volleyball match on Sept. 22 at Vannet Court, but lost two days later at Centennial.

Hood River (6-8 overall, 3-4 NWOC) had lost all six previous league matches against the Wildcats since joining the conference in 2022. HRV swept Wilsonville — which entered the match ranked No. 5 in the Class 5A OSAA rankings — by scores of 25-22, 25-22, 25-21.

The last time HRV beat Wilsonville was in the 2018 state volleyball tourney, when first-year Eagle Coach Emily Curtis was a senior outside hitter for then head Coach Scott Walker. (Walker is an assistant coach this season for Curtis.) The year before, HRV had beaten Wilsonville in the state playoffs; Curtis was a junior setter on that Eagle team.

Hood River entered the first of two league meetings vs. Wilsonville in seventh place in the nine-team conference. The Eagles started slow, but they settled down to overcome a 7-0 deficit in the first set — eventually taking the lead at 17-16 on a Wildcat service return error. It was 18-18 when senior Emily Doss went on a service run for the Eagles, who built a 22-18 lead. Wilsonville tied the match at 22 but three Wildcat errors led to HRV’s first set win.

Senior Abri Lopez had the hot hand from the service line in the second set, as HRV broke away from an 8-8 tie with six straight points. The Eagles set up left-side outside hitter Tia Britt who delivered back-to-back kills leading to an 18-14 HRV advantage. Wilsonville fought off three set points after Addi Van Metre had pushed Hood River to a 24-19 advantage with two kill shots. A Wilsonville service error ended the second set.

Lefty Emma Malley’s service prowess shined through in the clinching set. Her ace gave HRV an 11-5 lead, but Wilsonville was not done. The Wildcats came back behind talented freshman Luci Heu-Weller, who had a couple of kill shots as the visitors would claw back to trail by one point at 16-15. Honey Wampler’s spike pushed HRV’s lead to 22-18 before Wilsonville scored three straight points prompting Coach Curtis to call a timeout.

Hood River got the next point on a Wilsonville hitting error, and Wildcat Coach Scott Thompson strategically moved Heu-Weller to the left side. The Wildcats ran the next play through Heu-Weller, but HRV freshman Eleanor Buser stuff blocked her kill attempt setting up set point. A Wilsonville hitting error ended the match.

Centennial beat HRV, 3-1, on Sept. 24. Hood River entered the week of Sept. 29 tied for sixth place in the NWOC with Hillsboro. The Eagles were scheduled to play at Canby to start the week and then host the Cougars on Oct. 2.