A8 THE SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022
Sports+Outdoors
PREP VOLLEYBALL
PREP FOOTBALL
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Bend High’s Riley Ahmuty (10) hits the ball over the net during the first
set against Ridgeview at Caldera High School on Wednesday night.
Ridgeview
volleyball
falls to Bend
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
CO Media Group
For a team with a near-per-
fect record, hard-fought victo-
ries have been hard to come by
for the Bend High volleyball
team.
A 3-1 (23-25, 26-24, 25-9,
25-18) win over Ridgeview
Wednesday night, in which
two sets required late rallies to
secure a match victory, was a
hurdle the Lava Bears needed
to clear as they enter the second
half of 5A Intermountain Con-
ference play.
Bend had played a couple of
close matches over the week-
end at the South Albany State
Preview tournament, including
a 2-0 loss to 5A contender Wil-
sonville, where they just could
not land the knockout punches.
So the emphasis leading into
Wednesday’s doubleheader
against Caldera and Ridgeview
was to find ways to win.
“We have been trying so
hard to get those final points,”
said Bend junior outside hitter
Chloe LeLuge. “And after do-
ing it in the second set, we got
through that mental block.”
Added senior outside hitter
Jill Stein: “We finally won and
closed a game, that was nice.”
In all its nontournament
matches, Bend (11-1 overall, 5-0
IMC) wasn’t just undefeated,
but had yet to lose a single set.
That was until the opening
set of Wednesday’s tilt against
Ridgeview (6-6, 4-1), held at
Caldera High.
The Ravens and the Lava
Bears, both third-place finish-
ers at the state tournament in
different classifications last sea-
son, entered their first meeting
against one another undefeated.
“We have been watching
(Ridgeview) and they have been
playing really good,” Stein said.
“So we were expecting that it
was going to be good compe-
tition.”
And it was just that.
Having already swept Caldera
in straight sets less than 30 min-
utes before facing Bend, Rid-
geview outlasted the Lava Bears
in the first set, taking a set that
was tied at 12 and turning it into
a 25-23 win.
After handing Bend its first
set loss of the year, Ridgeview
nearly stole the second.
While the Lava Bears held a
modest lead for most of the set,
the Ravens rallied to tie it 20-20,
then take a 23-21 lead before
Bend stormed back for the 26-
24 win.
Digging out of a late hole to
steal a win was a welcoming
sign for the Lava Bears moving
forward.
“We were finally able to find
that final push in the second
game,” said Bend High coach
Kristin Cooper. “To find a way
to win close matches was an im-
portant lesson for us to learn.”
“Getting that win was all
about finding your teammates
and just knowing that you are
all in it together and trusting
each other fully,” LeLuge said.
Perhaps Ridgeview was
somewhat tired, having already
played a match earlier, or per-
haps the Lava Bears found a
groove, because they turned an
8-4 lead into a 25-9 dominating
win in the third set to take con-
trol of the match.
“Once we figured out how to
push through that second game,
it carried over to the third game
and we were able to continue
the momentum,” LeLuge said.
Ridgeview has earned the
reputation of being a scrappy
and difficult team to play and
that proved to be true in the
fourth set.
The Ravens held a 15-12 lead
in the fourth, but once again,
Bend found a way to scrap out
the final 13 points to win the
fourth set 25-18 and seal the
match victory.
“They have that really good
team connectedness,” Stein said
of Ridgeview. “They just know
who to feed, where to put the
ball. They are super smart of-
fensively, that is just something
that we haven’t played against
yet. That was new.”
It won’t be long before the
Lava Bears and Ravens square
off again. They will face each
other next Wednesday in a
doubleheader with Redmond
High before Bend hosts its an-
nual Clearwater Classic on Oct.
8, when some of the state’s top
teams will play in Central Or-
egon.
█
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Redmond’s Colton Horner (8) runs down field during the second quarter Friday against Bend at Redmond.
Redmond blanked
by unbeaten Bend
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
CO Media Group
W
hen on its first
offensive play
Redmond ex-
ecuted a fleaflicker for a
big gain, putting the Pan-
thers deep in Bend’s terri-
tory, it threatened to end
the Lava Bears defense’s
streak of eight consecu-
tive scoreless quarters.
But there was no panic
from the Bend defense in its
Intermountain Conference
opener.
“We told each other, we are
fine, we are good,” said senior
defensive end Trenton Karp-
stein. “Mistakes happen. It is
just one play at the beginning
of the game. We had a lot of
time left.”
The Lava Bears were, in
fact, good. Two plays later,
Bend (5-0, 1-0 IMC) recov-
ered a Redmond (2-3, 0-1)
fumble, for its first of three
takeaways. And when the fi-
nal horn sounded, the Lava
Bears walked off with a 43-0
win over Redmond for its
third consecutive shutout to
remain undefeated.
No team in the 5A classi-
fication has had a start quite
like the Lava Bears. No team
has scored more than the 220
points, and no team given up
fewer than the seven points
Bend has surrendered this
year. However, the first four
wins over Lincoln, North
Medford, Centennial and
Canby don’t carry nearly the
same weight as picking up a
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Bend’s Jackson Bishop (9) runs with the ball during the first quarter Friday against Redmond.
win against a conference op-
ponent.
“The other games have
been fun, but these league
games count,” said Bend
coach Matt Craven. “Ulti-
mately to get to where we
want to go, you have to win
league games.”
The Lava Bears rushed for
316 yards on offense. Senior
running back Jack Sorenson
ran for three touchdowns,
senior running back Malaki
Nutter and sophomore run-
ning back Seth Klaus each
ran the ball in for scores.
When the Lava Bears
needed to throw, senior quar-
terback Logan Malinowski
and senior wideout Blake
Groshong connected six
times for 85 yards and an
early 16-yard touchdown on
fourth and goal.
“It is always helpful when
you are multidimensional
and you have three or four
guys who you can get the ball
to,” Craven said. “The unsung
hero tonight, I thought, was
Blake Groshong.”
Sorenson sees the key to
the offense a bit differently
than his coach. “Honestly, it
is our defense,” said Soren-
son, tipping his cap to the
other side of the ball. “It is
easy to win games when the
other team can’t score. Scor-
ing a lot of points is nice,
but it is a lot nicer when you
don’t worry about how many
points you need to score be-
cause the other team isn’t
scoring.”
Only North Medford —
once, in the fourth quarter
of the second game of the
season — has been able to
score on the Lava Bears.
Since then, it has been zeros
across the board for oppos-
ing offenses. Senior defensive
back Jackson Bishop and se-
nior linebacker Austin Baker
each had interceptions in the
win. Baker also recovered a
fumble.
The Lava Bears have a
marquee Central Oregon
matchup Friday at Summit
(4-1), in a matchup between
arguably the two best 5A
teams
“I think everyone has that
one circled on the calendar,”
Craven said. “I know they
do; I know we do. It is going
to be a fantastic atmosphere
and we feel really fortunate
to play in big games this
year.”
█
Reporter: 541-383-0307,
brathbone@bendbulletin.com
Reporter: 541-383-0307,
brathbone@bendbulletin.com
PREP SCOREBOARD
Football
Friday’s results
Mountain View 48, Caldera 6
Summit 42, Ridgeview 8
Bend 43, Redmond 0
Madras 49, Pendleton 12
Ridgeview 3, Caldera 0
Summit 3, Redmond 0 (25-12,
25-15, 25-16)
Bend 3, Ridgeview 1 (23-25, 26-
24, 25-9, 25-18)
Sisters 3, Elmira 0 (25-12, 25-13,
25-7)
Boys soccer
Girls soccer
Friday’s results
Mountain View 3, Caldera 1
Wednesday’s results
Sisters 5, Creswell 0
Volleyball
Boys soccer
Wednesday’s results
Mountain View 3, Redmond 0
(25-17, 25-21, 25-16)
Wednesday’s results
Sisters 3, East Linn Christian 1
Redmond’s
Ryker Altizer
(4) pulls
in a pass
during the
first quarter
Friday
against Bend
in Redmond.
Ryan Brennecke/
The Bulletin