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.
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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