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12A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com SPORTS IN BRIEF Lady Mooks spike Seagulls in sweep Lady Fish go down swinging in loss The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — In other Cowapa League volleyball action Wednes- day, ifth-ranked Tillamook scored a three-game sweep at Seaside, 25-20, 25-21, 25-11. The Lady Mooks kept pace with Banks in the league standings, with the two teams tied for second at 7-2, behind Valley Catholic (8-1). Tillamook senior Jordan Zweifel, left, and Maddi Utti go one-on- one at the net in Wednesday night’s volleyball match. The Daily Astorian The Astoria volleyball team went down swinging Wednesday night at the Brick House, in the inal regular season home match of the season. Banks ultimately left with a three-game sweep, 25-17, 25-12, 25-22, but the state’s fourth- ranked team at least had to work for it. Astoria honored its two seniors — Aurora Grafton and Jacqueline Jarrett — before the match, and both had a few ‘Senior Moments’ during the match. But most of the night belonged to the Braves, who improved to 7-2 in league play, tied with Tilla- mook for second. The Braves trailed by a point early in Game 1, then reeled off a 13-2 run to take control. Four ace serves by sopho- more Bella Albert, a stuff block by Dani Neuman and two more aces from freshman Emma White high- lighted the rally. Grafton set up kills for Kes Sandstrom and Madi Landwehr to help the Lady Fishermen close to within 20-16, before Banks went on a 5-2 run to close the game. A 10-1 start to Game 2 led to the easiest win of the night for the Braves, a 13-point victory high- lighted by the play of senior Mad- die Standley. Astoria held its largest lead of the night in the third set, as Jar- rett had a stuff block on Albert, Chelsea Christensen had a kill off a block, and Landwehr set Jarrett for another kill that led to a 6-2 lead. The Braves responded with a 14-6 run to grab a 16-12 advan- tage — but Jarrett came up with a few senior moments in her inal home match. Jarrett had two more stuff blocks on Albert, tapped a ball over the Braves’ front line for another point, and a third block on Albert gave the Lady Fishermen a 19-17 lead. But the lead just wouldn’t last against the multi-talented Braves, who outscored Astoria 8-3 to close out the match for another three- game sweep. The Lady Fishermen showed last weekend that they could play with the Braves, winning one of three games (25-20) against Banks in Saturday’s Seaside Tournament. Astoria returns to action Sat- urday in the Corbett Tournament, then closes out the season Tuesday at Scappoose. Jeff Ter Har/For the Daily Astorian SCOR EBOARD PREP SCHEDULE TODAY Football — Banks at Astoria, 7 p.m.; Per- rydale JV at Jewell, 7 p.m. Volleyball — Knappa at Nestucca, 6 p.m. Boys Soccer — Gladstone at Seaside, 6:30 p.m. FRIDAY Football — Tillamook at Seaside, 7 p.m.; Portland Christian at Warrenton, 7 p.m.; Neah-Kah-Nie at Knappa, 7 p.m.; Ilwaco at Willapa Valley, 7 p.m. Cubs wait to see who One ace standing: Nats’ they’ll meet in NLCS Scherzer to face Dodgers By ANDREW SELIGMAN AP Sports Writer CHICAGO — Best in the majors this season, the Chicago Cubs cleared their irst big October hurdle. Now, they wait to see who’s next. The Cubs advanced to the NL Championship Series for the second straight year by knocking out the San Francisco Giants in a thrilling four-game NLDS. They will face the winner of Thurs- day’s Game 5 between the Washington Nation- als and Los Angeles Dodgers in what they hope will be another step toward the World Series championship that has eluded the franchise since 1908. Game 1 is at Wrigley Field on Saturday. “I think it validates on a lot of dif- ferent levels the job that we have done to this point,” manager Joe Maddon said. “I think if you’re a player on this particular team within the organiza- tion, it’s getting to the point now you want to expect to get to the postseason and you want to expect to get deeply into the postseason. It also speaks to the way we played.” Chicago is looking for more this time after getting swept by the New York Mets in the NLCS a year ago. The Cubs dominated like no other team in the majors this season, run- ning away with the NL Central cham- pionship. They got off to a 25-6 start and spent all but two days in irst place on the way to a major league-best 103- 58 record — the most wins by the Cubs since they inished the 1910 sea- son with 104. For a franchise deined by heart- break rather than championships, one can only imagine the anxiety in Chi- cago had the NLDS returned to Wrig- ley Field for a Game 5 on Thurs- day. But instead of the billy goat and black cat and Bartman , all thoughts are on the next round for a team that has followed Maddon’s advice to embrace the high expectations. “I think we’re grow- ing every day,” pitcher Jon Lester said. “The biggest theme for us is just never quit. We always battle and grind out until the last out and see what happens.” The NLDS sure was one wild grind. That series had it all, whether it was Lester and Johnny Cueto dominating on the mound in Game 1, Javier Baez coming up with huge hits or spectacu- lar plays, the Giants rallying in Game 3 and ultimately winning in 13 innings, or the Cubs scoring four in the ninth on Tuesday to wrap things up. The Cubs joined the 1986 New York Mets (in Game 6 of the NLCS against Houston) as the only teams to rally from a three-run deicit in the ninth to win a playoff series clincher. They also stopped the San Francisco’s 10-game winning streak when facing postseason elimination and squashed the possibility of another even-year championship. By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer WASHINGTON — While going to ace Clayton Kershaw on short rest helped the Los Angeles Dodg- ers stave off elimination in their NL Division Series against the Wash- ington Nationals, it also has raised the question: Who will start Game 5 for the Dodgers? “I know Kershaw isn’t pitching,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “Thank God.” While there will be no Kershaw and LA manager Dave Roberts still has not named his starter, the Nationals will hand the ball to Cy Young Award candidate Max Scher- zer in the decisive Game 5 at home Thursday night. With a spot in the NL Champi- onship Series against the Chicago Cubs at stake, Scherzer is the man Washington wants on the mound and he’s embracing the pressure. “I’ve kind of said over the past few days, I’ve said that a hand- ful of times throughout my career, ‘Hey, this is the biggest start of my career,”’ Scherzer said Tuesday. “How you handle that, going out there using the emotion of that sce- nario, that everything is on the line, look, I’m not going to shy away from it. This is the biggest start of my career.” Scherzer (20-7, 2.96 ERA) lasted only six innings and lost Game 1 after giving up home runs to Corey Seager and Justin Turner. While Scherzer is looking for some redemption, the Dodgers are looking forward to another shot at him. “I mean, we beat him once already,” irst baseman Adrian Gon- zalez said. “We put some pretty good at-bats against him in Game 1, and we’re conident that we can do that again.” The Nationals also had some good at-bats against LA lefty Rich Hill, beating him in Game 2. Hill (12-5, 2.12) will most likely be the Dodgers’ starter in Game 5, though Roberts will use a “collection of arms” and could quickly turn to fresh 20-year-old lefty Julio Urias if there’s trouble. Washington’s bullpen has been strong, but Scherzer is in the spotlight. “I know who Max is and how he goes about it,” right ielder Bryce Harper said. “I think there are things we can do in the bullpen, as well, if Max doesn’t get to the ninth. He’s got a lot of help. So hopefully we’ll get a couple of runs early and do what we can to stay with our approach and stay within ourselves (and) just have a lot of fun.” Scherzer considers the big stage plenty of fun. He said it doesn’t mat- ter that it’s not him against Kershaw again and expects the Dodgers’ best effort and a charged atmosphere. “It’s going to be a heck of a ball- game,” Scherzer said. “These are two great teams. We’ve seen great pitching, we’ve seen great offense, great bullpens, clutch hitting. We’ve seen it all. So the opportunity to go out there in Game 5, back in D.C. with our fans, it’s going to be a heck of an experience.” Beaver’s Collins excels in new receiver role Sounders Former QBs making impact at other positions for Pac-12 teams By ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer CORVALLIS — The change in position for Oregon State quarterback Seth Collins seemed inevitable at the end of last season, when he was used in several roles in the inale against Oregon. The writing was on the wall: Utah State transfer Darell Garretson would be eligible to play this season, and it looked like that was where the Bea- vers were leaning at quarterback. Col- lins decided to leave Oregon State and go somewhere where he could play at quarterback — but he never actually left school. Instead, he became a receiver. Collins has embraced his new role, joining a handful of prospective QBs across the Pac-12 who have traded positions. These shifts are usually out of necessity if they want playing time because another quarterback in the so-called “Conference of Quarter- backs” is established as the starter. In Collins’ case, he was named Oregon State’s starter at the begin- ning of last season, coach Gary Ander- sen’s irst with the Beavers. Fast and athletic, Collins turned heads when he actually hurdled a defender in a game against Weber State. Collins would go on to start seven total games. He threw for 936 yards and six touchdowns, while also rush- ing for 580 yards and eight scores. Sidelined by injury for four games, he returned in the Civil War, lin- ing up at running back, receiver and quarterback. In adjusting to his new multidi- mensional role this season, Collins has caught 24 passes for 268 yards, aver- aging 11.2 yards a reception. Last week Andersen said that senior team captain Sean Harlow had pointed to Collins’ passion during a team address. “In life, I love the word ‘edgy,”’ Andersen said about Collins. “I want to be around people that they might make you a little bit nervous. That’s good. I love it. That’s where you want to live, and there’s nothing wrong with that, because you know that they’re going to compete at whatever they’re doing.” battle to 0-0 tie with Dynamo By MARK MOSCHETTI Associated Press AP Photo/Timothy J. Gonzalez Oregon State’s Seth Collins, left, gets behind Boise State’s Bran- don Arnold, right, to make a catch in the second half of an NCAA college football game in September in Corvallis. SEATTLE — Most nights, Stefan Frei would be thrilled with a shutout on the scoresheet and a point in the standings. On Wednesday, the Seattle keeper and the rest of the Sounders clearly were hoping for more. Frei made ive saves, delecting one shot off the right post, and the Sounders played to a 0-0 tie with the Houston Dynamo. The draw moved the Sounders (13-13-6, 45 points) closer to secur- ing a spot in the MLS playoffs. The Dynamo (7-13-12, 33 points) already have been eliminated. Seattle, which has surged to a 7-1-4 record since Brian Schmetzer took over coaching duties in late July, could have clinched a spot with a win.
