Volleyball secures second place in IMC

Hood River came away with a 3-1 victory in Pendleton and would have to wait for the final score in Crook County to be announced as the Ravens and Cowboys went to a fifth and final set.

In a sudden-death set that would decide if Ridgeview, Crook County and Hood River would be in a three-way tie for first place, Crook County was unable to knock-off the top-seeded Ravens at home on Tuesday night, as Ridgeview beat the Cowboys in the final set for a 3-2 victory.

The victory for Ridgeview kept them locked-in at first place in league with an 8-1 conference record, while it dropped Crook County to third place with a 5-3 record; the victory in Pendleton for HRV kept the Eagles one game behind the Ravens in second place with a 7-2 record.

With only one week left of league competition remaining, here’s how the current Intermountain Conference standings look (after Oct. 18 games): Ridgeview (first place, 9-1); Hood River Valley (second place, 8-2); Crook County (third place, 6-3); Pendleton (fourth place, 4-5); The Dalles (fifth place, 2-8); and Redmond (sixth place, 0-10).

Crook County and Pendleton will finish off league action on Oct. 23.

Against the Buckaroos on Tuesday night, HRV had a “hard-fought road win,” said Hood River Valley head coach Scott Walker.

In the first three sets, only nine total points separated the two teams.

HRV opened with a 25-21 victory over the buckaroos in the first set, then took a 2-0 lead after beating Pendleton 25-22 in the second set.

In the third set, Pendleton cut the Eagles’ lead to 2-1 after a 25-23 set victory.

But the Eagles would prove to be too much for the Buckaroos to handle in the fourth set. HRV won by a final score of 25-15 to take the 3-1 victory on the road.

Offensively, HRV was led by Katie Kennedy, who had a team-high 36 kills on the night.

The leader in assists versus the Buckaroos was Chloe Kurahara, who tallied 33 for the match. Carli Stroud also added three aces to cap off the offensive highlights against Pendleton.

Defensively, Grace Miller led the way with 22 digs and Emily Curtis was right behind her with 20 digs. Haylee Baker had one solo block and four block assists to “anchor the front line,” said Walker.

The Eagles then closed out the regular season at home on Thursday, Oct. 18 against The Dalles.

This final matchup of the season also marked senior night for the Eagles.

Seniors on this year’s HRV varsity volleyball roster who were honored Thursday were Madi James, Haylee Baker, Emily Curtis, Carli Stroud, Bailey Frazier, Katie Kennedy, Elena Kroll, Grace Miller and Emilie Ellifritz.

HRV will head into 5A volleyball state playoffs with momentum as they finished league play on a four-game winning streak after beating The Dalles by a final score of 3-1 on Oct. 18.

The opening round of 5A state volleyball playoffs begins on Wednesday, Oct. 24 (time and opponent have yet to be announced).