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Columbia Gorge News www.columbiagorgenews.com Wednesday,June16,2021 15 SPORTS Dufur girls move ahead of Redsides in Big Sky standings Mike Weber ■ For By Columbia Gorge News Matthew Vaughn Reardon takes a shot during a home meet in Hood River earlier this season. Mark B. Gibson photos HRV boys tennis team gets things done, on the court in classroom Petshow ■ By For Joe Columbia Gorge News Pandemics have a way of forcing people to grow up quickly, but that can be a good thing for young, high school sports teams. Such was the case for the Hood River Valley boys ten- nis squad this past season. “Before our first match I realized half the varsity lineup would be playing their first match ever,” HRV Coach Jon Hiatt said. “By the end of the season, they played like this wasn’t their first season. “I’m very happy with the improvement from the guys this year.” Both on the court and off. The Eagle boys were the 2020-21 Class 5A Oregon School Activities Association state champion for academ- ics with a team 3.94 grade- point average (see related story this issue). “That’s a big team achievement; some- thing to brag about,” Hiatt said. Inside the lines, HRV finished second at the Intermountain Conference district tournament after placing third in the league’s dual-match standings. Redmond finished with 43 points to take the IMC team title over second-place Hood River (20) and third-place Ridgeview (17). Two HRV seniors led the way: Matthew Vaughn Reardon and Ben Garofalo. Reardon was runner-up in singles to Skyler Jones of IMC champion Redmond, while Garofalo finished fourth. “I was really proud of Ben,” Hiatt said. “He played his best tennis of the year in the semifinals and third-place matches. He really battled, followed the game plan, was Ben Garofalo angles a shot at his opponent during a home meet in Hood River earlier this season. patient, and had fun. He would have done well at state if there was one this year.” Garofalo will attend University of California, San Diego this fall to study engineering. Reardon is heading east, academic scholarships also in hand, to attend Syracuse University. “He’s the first HRV player that I can think of to finish with a first, second and third place at the district tournament,” Hiatt said. “If it weren’t for COVID, he would have been a four-time state tournament participant.” As it was, Reardon was a two-time state qualifier and a 2019 state semifinalist. Columbia Gorge News The IMC singles champi- onship match was one for the ages. Redmond’s Jones won in three sets, the third set by a 10-8 tiebreaker. “It was one of the best singles matches I’ve seen in years,” Redmond Coach Nathan Saito said. “Very entertaining and very high-level tennis.” Both Redmond and HRV will miss senior-laden teams next season. Hiatt said the foundation has been laid for the Eagles to make another IMC run. “The guys coming back are already working hard to improve and looking forward to next season,” he said. HOME and GARDEN hg Adventure | Design | Food | Real Estate | Trends Lost KRHP-TV on Cable? NOW HIRING Service TECHNICIANS KRHP is available FREE * on Roku TV www.roku.com for info * one time remote purchase required $30 Experience preferred, but will cross train. Work for the family owned dealership since 1963 located in The Dalles. These positions offer great pay and benefits. Mon-Fri 8-5p.m with weekends off. Call Curtis Rice, Service Manager 503-957-1478 “Christian TV the way it ought to be” 2400 W. 6th Street, The Dalles, Oregon In what would have to be considered as their most im- pressive win of the season, the Dufur High Rangers won 48-44 over their adjacent county rival South Wasco in a Class 1A girls basketball game Saturday at Dufur High School. The victory over the Redsides (4-2 Big Sky League, 5-2 overall) capped a successful week in which the Lady Rangers won two out-of-three home games and took over second place in the league standings. Dufur (5-2 Big Sky, 5-3) won 66-39 over the Horizon Christian High Hawks (1-5 Big Sky, 1-6) June 8 and lost 54-42 to the Damascus Christian Eagles (3-1) in a nonleague contest June 9. Dufur, guided by Coach Nathan Morris, concluded the regular season with Monday’s matchup against Ione/Arlington (3-0 Big Sky, 3-2), followed by Tuesday’s season finale versus the Trinity Lutheran Saints (5-0) of Bend (results came after the printed edition deadline). “It’s always a big rivalry with South Wasco, so it was definitely a good win,” said Morris, whose squad prob- ably won’t continue playing during the 1A Culminating Week June 21-26. “We didn’t do a very good job of closing out at the end, which is something we have to learn to do better.” Led by senior Kierstin White (16 points) and fresh- man Hayley Peterson (12 points), Dufur built a 13-10 first quarter lead over South Wasco. It was a close, evenly played game all the way and the Rangers led 23-21 at halftime and 38-35 at the end of the third quarter. After Dufur built a nine- point fourth quarter ad- vantage, the Lady Redsides responded with a strong comeback to trim the final margin to four points. South Wasco, guided by third-year Coach Carly Johnson, was led by sophomore Kylie Iverson, who scored a career-high 18 points and senior Jade McCoy (career-high 17). “It was a really close game and we fell behind by nine points with less than one minute left and then we made it pretty close at the end,” said Johnson, who is hoping to lead her squad to the Culminating Week state playoffs June 21-26 at Baker High School. “Our girls really played well at the end, but we missed some key free throws that hurt. It was a fun game, and I was really proud of how well the girls fought back at the end. I was really proud of the way that freshman Anabell Udey stepped up and played in the post for us, because she did a really good job.” South Wasco senior Destiny Mora-Lopez was un- able to play for South Wasco because she was attending a wedding. Udey played in Mora-Lopez’s usual post position for the Redsides. South Wasco, which was undefeated a week ago, has dropped two straight, includ- ing a 52-40 road loss to the league-leading Trout Lake Mustangs (6-0 Big Sky, 9-0) June 9. The Redsides played their final regular season game Monday against the Country Christian Cougars (6-1) of Molalla (results came after the printed edtion deadline). South Wasco is hoping to play another week in the state playoffs. “It’s not exactly clear yet how the playoffs will be set up, and it’s still being organized by some other coaches and athletic direc- tors at some other schools, but we’re really hoping that we will qualify for that tournament,” said Johnson. “It would be lots of fun and everyone will be able to play three games. Having an op- portunity to play in that gym would be a good opportunity, especially if we were able to make it to the state tourna- ment in the future. It will be fun and kind of like summer camp and it would be a great way to end the season on a fun note.” The Horizon Christian High Hawks, guided by Coach Joe Petshow, capped their short seven-game spring season by winning their season finale at home 36-22 over the Sherman High Huskies (0-7) Friday. “The difference in the game, in the second half, was our perimeter defenders con- testing their outside shoot- ers,” said Petshow. “Sherman is a young team like we are. Coach Gary Lewis does a good job of teaching floor spacing, getting his players in positions to score. In the second half our defense was able to limit their open shots — shots they were hitting in the first half.” Horizon led by five points at halftime, and it was a back-and-forth game until the fourth quarter. Horizon junior guard Gus Decker led all scorers with 18 points, including five 3-pointers. Sophomore point guard Gabby Mooney distributed the ball, including some nice entry passes to freshman post Zoe LeBreton, who took ad- vantage of her athletic ability to score 15 points. 2021 Hood River Lions Club Kevin White / Patti Simpson Memorial Scholarship Recipients The Hood River Lions Club is proud to award over $15,000 to the following graduates. Monserrat Beltran Juarez Dora Elia Plascencia-Macias Erica Matthisen Erika Wellenstein Grace Guertin Olivia Sumerfield Julian Yue Jacob Kaplan Luke Southall Regina Sanchez Macias