A8 The SpokeSman • TueSday, ocTober 25, 2022
Sports+Outdoors
GIRLS SOCCER
Redmond beats Ridgeview
to remain in playoff chase
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
CO Media Group
Tuesday evening’s girls soccer match
between Redmond and Ridgeview was
not a typical Intermountain Confer-
ence matchup between intracity rivals.
It was basically a playoff game two
weeks before the postseason starts.
Leading into the critical matchup,
Redmond coach Martha Segura
showed her team a video of Duke Uni-
versity women’s basketball coach Kara
Lawson. The theme from the Blue
Devils’ coach was how to best handle
challenges.
“It is never going to get easier,” Se-
gura said. “You learn how to deal with
hard, better. And you become more
successful through that. And I feel like
we did that tonight, we learned how to
deal with hard, better.”
The Panthers made Tuesday night’s
challenge at Ridgeview High look fairly
easy. With two goals in the first 15 min-
utes and three more in the second half,
Redmond (6-7 overall, 3-6 IMC) got
the season sweep of the Ravens (4-9,
2-7) for the first time since Ridgeview
opened in 2012 with a 5-0 victory.
Junior midfielder Andreyah Johnson
broke the scoreless tie in the first three
minutes of the match, then junior for-
ward Reese Wedding scored her first of
three goals in the 15th minute to jump-
start the Panthers.
Midway through the second half, the
Panthers went on a scoring spurt to put
the game out of reach. Wedding scored
her second goal in the 65th minute,
three minutes later junior Jillian Bre-
mont scored, then Wedding completed
the hat trick with her third goal of the
match in the 72nd minute.
“Getting an early lead gets everyone
going,” Wedding said. “I think it helps
everyone play better. Because we are
like, ‘We got two, let’s keep going.’ They
Redmond’s Jillian Bremont takes a shot
on goal during the Panthers’ 5-0 win over
Ridgeview Tuesday evening.
“Getting an early lead gets
everyone going. I think it
helps everyone play better.
Because we are like, ‘We got
two, let’s keep going.’ They
got everyone really excited
in the moment.”
— Reese Wedding, Panthers forward
brian rathbone/The bulletin photos
Redmond’s Reese Wedding dribbles past a Ridgeview defender during the Panthers’ 5-0 win over the Ravens on Tuesday eve-
ning at Ridgeview High School.
got everyone really excited in the mo-
ment.’”
Entering Tuesday’s slate of soccer
matches, both Summit and Caldera
had separated themselves from the rest
of the conference. The Storm and the
Wolfpack clinched two of the three
available automatic bids for the playoffs
and are on a collision course for a win-
ner-take-all conference title match next
Tuesday at Caldera.
Redmond, Ridgeview, Bend High
and Mountain View all entered this
week in contention for the final auto-
matic bid to the Class 5A state playoffs,
which start Nov. 2.
After Tuesday’s results, Redmond
and Mountain View have the inside
track going into the final matchups of
the season.
“Everyone knows that every game
we play to our full potential,” Wedding
said. “Mistakes are obviously going to
happen, but we need to try and min-
imize them. We just kept a positive
mindset knowing we would have an-
other chance if we played better the
second time around.”
And now they are going into the
final game of the season Thursday
against the Lava Bears — who won
the first match 2-1 on Oct. 3 — with a
chance to clinch a spot in the playoffs.
It’s an incredible feat, considering
the last time the Bend and Redmond
schools were in the same conference,
the Panthers had only one tie and 39
losses without a win in league play be-
tween 2013 and 2017.
“When I first took over this program
it was the ‘Bend League,’ and we didn’t
do so well,” Segura said. “Having that in
the back of my mind knowing that the
last time we were in the same league
we were at the bottom of the pack, it
is so exciting to go back to these Bend
schools and compete and have a pro-
gram that can fight for a playoff spot.”
█
Reporter: 541-383-0307,
brathbone@bendbulletin.com
VOLLEYBALL
Ridgeview ready for postseason challenges
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
CO Media Group
Ridgeview volleyball coach Kurtis Bower ad-
mitted he was nervous coming into the season
taking over a program with a long history of not
only making the playoffs, but advancing to state
tournaments.
After the regular season came to an end
Wednesday night with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-
16) sweep of Mountain View, the Ravens are right
back where they usually are — in the playoffs and
a win away from advancing to the 5A state tour-
nament.
“I knew I had a great team coming in,” Bower
said. “But getting it to a point where we are getting
to the playoffs and having that goal in mind, and
to finally getting there and achieving it is kind of
surreal.”
Perhaps just as, if not more, important is how
the Ridgeview players feel entering the postsea-
son. They believe they are playing their best vol-
leyball of the season.
“I feel like everything is coming together,” said
senior outside hitter Madie Vaughn. “I think we
are ready to go into the playoffs because we have
played a lot of the toughest teams in all these tour-
naments. We are ready to go out there and give it
everything we have got.”
While Ridgeview had a second-place finish in
the Intermountain Conference behind IMC-cham-
pion Bend High and will be in contention to host a
playoff match once the brackets are finalized, nei-
ther Bower nor Vaughn would say that it has been a
smooth ride for the Ravens this season.
The year started off with three consecutive
losses and when playing in tournaments against
some of the state’s top competition nearly every
weekend of the season, the Ravens struggled.
With the regular season winding down, Rid-
geview met in the team room for what Vaughn
called a “come to Jesus moment” to get everyone
on the same page as they embarked on another
PREP SCOREBOARD
Football
Friday’s results
Summit 49, Mountain View 23
Caldera 20, Redmond 19
Siuslaw 20, Sisters 7
Boys soccer
Friday
Damascus Christian at Central Christian, canceled
ryan brennecke/The bulletin photos
Ridgeview’s Madie Vaughn (8) hits the ball past a pair of Mountain View defenders during the first set in
Redmond on Wednesday night.
run to the postseason.
“We just had a
“We talked about
sit-down talk
what needed to be fixed
and then we went out
and realized
and executed,” Vaughn
that we have the
said. “A lot of things
went unsaid. We just
postseason coming
had a sit-down talk and
and that we need
realized that we have
the postseason coming
to turn it on.”
and that we need to turn
it on.”
— Madie Vaughn,
Out of the meeting,
senior outside hitter
players wrote down mis-
sion statements and re-
iterated the goals for the team, which was coming
off a third-place finish at last year’s 5A state tour-
nament.
“It is just a reminder of all the principles we
want to use in our game,” Vaughn said. “We don’t
want to forget that when we are playing.”
What became evident though the meetings was
that the team was going through perhaps some
self-doubt on the court, especially in matches
against tougher opponents.
“Our team is so talented and has so much po-
tential,” Vaughn said. “We just need to believe in
ourselves. I feel like in games we started getting
frazzled when things weren’t going our way. It
Ridgeview’s Jaylah Forester (13) hits the ball over
the net during the first set against Mountain View
in Redmond on Wednesday night.
Ridgeview’s Sidnee Roan (12) returns a serve during the first set against Mountain View in Redmond on
Wednesday night.
comes down to being confident and believing that
we can do it.”
The belief is now there that this team can make
another run though the postseason as it has in re-
cent years. The IMC, which is also sending Bend
and Summit to the postseason, wrapped up its
regular season well before the rankings freeze on
Tuesday and the playoff brackets are released.
“We want to go to state and win state,” Bower
said. “I want to enjoy the experience and take it all
in and do the best that I can for these girls.”
█
Reporter: 541-383-0307, brathbone@bendbulletin.com