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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
Astoria volleyball opens with win
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria volleyball team opened the 2017 season
the same way it opened 2016, with a victory over Cat-
lin Gabel.
Astoria’s Kes Sandstrom pounded out 19 kills and
Chelsea Christensen led a strong defensive effort with
43 digs, helping the Lady Fishermen win in four games,
25-16, 25-23, 22-25, 25-13, Wednesday night at the
Brick House.
Madi Landwehr added 14 kills, and Julia Norris
contributed 11 kills and 34 assists for Astoria, which
was 2-2 in a preseason jamboree last week.
In Wednesday’s first regular match, “we definitely
had some first game jitters,” Astoria coach Jessie Todd
said. “We were down at first in Game 1, then fought
back and finally got into a groove.”
Christensen also had seven ace serves, Landwehr
added 26 assists, and Darian Hageman finished with
seven blocks to spark the Astoria defense.
“We played great defensively,” Todd said. “We bat-
tled when we fell behind, and our setters (Norris and
Landwehr) made great choices all night.”
She added, “we talked about keeping our unforced
errors down, and we did a fairly good job of that, with
the exception of sets one and three, when we kind of got
stuck in a rotation. But I was happy with how we came
back, and it feels good to start with a win.”
Astoria returns to action tonight against another
Lewis & Clark League opponent, as the Fishermen
travel to Rainier to face the 3A Columbians.
Loggers sweep the Tigers
TOP: Julia Norris
prepares to
spike the ball.
The Daily Astorian
CLATSKANIE — It was the 2A Northwest
League against the 3A Lewis & Clark League
Wednesday night in Clatskanie, where the Tigers
hosted a nonleague match with Knappa.
And the 2A Loggers bounced back from Tues-
day’s loss at Warrenton with a three-game sweep
over Clatskanie, 25-16, 25-17, 25-22.
Knappa’s Paris Vanderburg was hot at the ser-
vice line, connecting on 17-of-18 serves with eight
aces. She also had 12 assists, while Kaitlyn Truax
was 14-for-15 serving with five aces, five digs and
four kills.
Kourtney Tischer was 11-of-11 serving, and
Jaden Miethe had 17 digs for the second night in
a row.
LEFT: Kira Wor-
wood dives for a
ball for the Asto-
ria Fishermen.
Photos by
Colin Murphey
The Daily Astorian
SHS PREVIEWS
MORE ON PAGE 10A
Gulls’ volleyball ready Young Gulls ready
to fly for new coach
for a return to state
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
Most coaches don’t look
favorably on the OSAA’s RPI
rating system — but that’s
exactly what saved the season
for the Seaside volleyball team
last year.
The Lady Gulls had just
two wins in league play, but
because Seaside plays in the
always-tough Cowapa League,
that was enough to get the
Gulls and their No. 16 ranking
into the regional play-in round.
And taking advantage of
the opportunity, Seaside went
to Estacada and defeated the
Rangers in four games, secur-
ing a spot in the Sweet 16.
In a first-round state play-
off at Sisters, the eventual state
champions swept the Gulls,
25-14, 25-16, 25-18.
Seaside is under new man-
agement in 2017, as Eric
Huntsman was named head
coach in the off-season, after
wife Angie stepped down after
four years.
They may not win the Cow-
apa League, but with three all-
league returners, Seaside could
be thinking about a state tour-
nament appearance.
SEASIDE
VOLLEYBALL
Coach: Eric Huntsman, 1st year
2016: 2-8 Cowapa
State playoffs: Lost first-round
match at Sisters
All-League losses: Maddi Utti
All-League returners: Alyssia
Gonzalez, Sr.; Anna Huddleston,
Jr.; Jetta Ideue, Sr.
The Cowapa
Last year’s Sweet 16
included five of the six Cow-
apa League schools, and three
of the eight teams in the state
tournament were from the
Cowapa, with Banks and Val-
ley Catholic reaching the Final
Four (both lost, and Valley
Catholic defeated Banks in a
consolation match).
The league could be up for
grabs this year, with both the
Braves and Valiants graduat-
ing big senior classes. Valley
Catholic lost four all-league
players, while Banks lost three
first-team all-leaguers.
Astoria and Seaside will
both put competitive teams on
the floor.
The Lady Gulls
The Gulls only graduated
three seniors, but one big loss
was outside hitter Maddi Utti.
Her primary sport was bas-
ketball (Utti will play at Fresno
State this winter), but Utti was
arguably the most talented vol-
leyball player in the Cowapa
last season.
Still, Seaside has athletes
ready to step in and fill the
void.
Leading the way are a trio
of returning all-league play-
ers — senior middle blocker/
hitter Alyssia Gonzales; senior
outside hitter Jetta Ideue;
and junior setter Anna
Huddleston.
Seaside’s preseason turnout
was enough to fill three teams,
with Danielle Reese coaching
the junior varsity, and Mitch
Ward leading the JV II squad.
The eight players on the
varsity roster include two other
seniors — Nikki Mercado
and Sequoia Shand; along
with juniors Maddie Jensen,
Emy Kiser, Tori Tomlin and
Huddleston.
After one week of play,
the Gulls were 3-0 and ranked
No. 2 in the OSAA rankings.
It’s early, but Seaside appears
headed for another state play-
off-qualifying season.
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
For the first time in nearly
40 years, the Seaside cross
country program will enter a
season with a new head coach.
Neil Branson coached
cross country for 39 years,
including 37 as an assistant
and head coach at Seaside,
before retiring at the end of
last season.
And he didn’t just fade
down the backstretch — Bran-
son went out with very com-
petitive teams the last two
years, including a state cham-
pionship for the Seaside boys
in 2015, and a runner-up fin-
ish in ‘16.
But Branson’s gone, along
with many of those runners.
Frank Januik is the new
guy in charge, with a lot of
young, new “charges” under
him.
Of Seaside’s 10 runners on
the boys’ side, four are fresh-
men, with one sophomore,
four juniors and one senior.
The numbers are just plain
thin on the girls’ side, with
only three runners as of this
week.
It will take time, said
Januik, who was serving as
Branson’s assistant right up
until his final year.
“We lost a lot of kids,” he
said. “Two-thirds of our team
last year were seniors. Our
boys were great, and Josie
Smith was a great runner for
the girls. And of course, Neil
was there for a long time and
did a really good job. So it’s
different.”
Branson is still in charge
of the big 3-Course Challenge
Meet, Sept. 23 at Camp Rilea.
The coaching duties at Sea-
side will fall to Januik and his
assistant, Matt Spear, a suc-
cessful marathon runner.
“He’s a current runner,”
Januik said. “Last year at the
20-mile mark of the Portland
Marathon, he was in third
place overall. He can run, and
he’s been a big help to the
kids.”
The lone senior for the
Gulls is Rafi Sibony, the last
holdover from the 2015 state
championship team.
“Matt and Rafi have run a
lot together,” Januik said, “and
Rafi is probably in the best
shape he’s ever been. He’s
ready to get after it this year.”
After that, the team gets
young, in a hurry.
The juniors are Alex Bar-
nett, Mathew Carpenter,
Sam Henderson and David
Schwinof. Cameron Lippert
is the lone sophomore, with
incoming freshmen Sean Bar-
nett, Jude Gomez, Beau John-
son and Francisco Rojas.
The going will be tough
for the freshmen boys, “until
they get bigger and stronger,”
Januik said. “There’s a big dif-
ference between their fresh-
man and senior years. That’s
what everyone will see in Rafi
this year.”
On the girls’ side, Seaside
has junior Ana Rojas, soph-
omore Hayley Rollins and
freshman Angelina Alcala.
In a bit of a change, there’s
only one athlete (Sibony) run-
ning cross country and also
playing soccer this fall.
“That was huge for us,”
said Januik, whose son Jack-
son was a two-sport athlete
in the fall. “Both years for
the last two years, five of our
seven runners were soccer
players. And they were soc-
cer players who were junior
and seniors — that makes for
strong runners, and that’s what
we don’t have this year.”
S ERVING S EASIDE S INCE 1936
CELEBRATING
S
OVER 80 YEAR
E
D
SERVING SEASI
GO
SEAGULLS!
Good Luck
ALL ATHLETES AND COACHES
From All Our Chamber Member Partners,
We Wish You the Best this Season