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A8 THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, OcTObER 17, 2019 CONTACT US FOLLOW US Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports VOLLEYBALL CLATSOP CLASHES Warrenton clinches second straight league title The Astorian After no league titles since 1978, the Warrenton volleyball program switched leagues, and now has two league champion- ships in two years. The Lady Warriors officially clinched their latest Coastal Range League title Tuesday night, with a five-set victory at Willamina, 16-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12. Willamina falls to 5-2, while Warrenton improves to 7-0 in league. Photos by Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian Astoria’s Shelby Rasmussen stumbles while fighting for the ball with Seaside’s Caleigh Peterson and Hailey Hughes during Tuesday’s game at Broadway Field. See more photos at DailyAstorian.com “It was another typical five- set match with Willamina,” said Warrenton coach Staci Miethe. “We had some amazing long rallies and a lot of great defense on both sides. This was by far our best match of the sea- son, and I am so happy to see them playing like this when it matters.” Offensively, “we kept (the Bulldogs) on their toes with really consistent and tough serving,” she said. “We served 92% as a team.” Stevey Berry led the War- renton serving, hitting 23-of-23 with three aces. Avyree Miethe was 22-for-24 with seven aces, and the Warriors had 20 aces as a team. Mia McFadden paced the offensive attack with 13 kills, and Miethe followed by with 11. And Natalie Oseguera had Warrenton’s best performance of the year hitting, 26-of-26 attacks with four kills. Nora Ayo had 36 assists, “but defense was the key to this game,” coach Miethe said. “We were scrappy and played with so much heart. Our serve-re- ceive was on point and we dug the ball over 90 times.” Melia Kapua and Avyree Miethe both had 22 digs, and Berry added 17. “Our front line was solid at the net and was key in mak- ing (the Bulldogs) change up their offense, which led to many more free balls and eas- ier defensive opportunities,” coach Miethe said. “Annie Heyen led that group with five blocks and three block kills, followed by Leah (Schiewe) with three block kills.” Warrenton gets a bye through the league playoffs and an auto- matic berth to the first round of the state playoffs. The Warriors will play the winning team out of the dis- trict tournament (on Saturday) at Warrenton next Tuesday. But first, the Warriors will be heavily favored to finish off a perfect league season Thursday at home vs. Rainier. Warrenton has already swept the Columbians once in league play and twice in nonleague action this season. “If we win that, we will be undefeated in the league and it’s been a long time since that has happened,” Miethe said. SCOREBOARD PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE THURSDAY Volleyball — Astoria at Tillamook, 6:30 p.m.; Rainier at Warrenton, 6 p.m.; Vernonia at Knappa, 6:30 p.m.; Jewell at Crosshill Chris- tian, 6 p.m. Girls Soccer — Astoria at Banks, 4:15 p.m.; Seaside at Valley Catholic, 7:15 p.m. Boys Soccer — Banks at Astoria, 6 p.m.; Valley Catholic at Seaside, 7:15 p.m. FRIDAY Football — Molalla at Astoria, 7 p.m.; Seaside at Banks, 7 p.m.; Gaston at Knappa, 7 p.m.; Neah-Kah-Nie at Warrenton, 7 p.m.; Crow at Jewell, 6 p.m.; Fort Vancouver at Ilwaco, 7 p.m.; Darrington at Naselle, 5 p.m. ASTORIA SCORES WIN AT SEASIDE By GARY HENLEY The Astorian S EASIDE — The incentives to win were high for both teams Tuesday night, in a Clatsop Clash girls soc- cer showdown at Broadway Field. The winner would get their first league victory of the season, and would climb out of a tie for last place in the league standings. After a 0-0 tie in the previous meeting with Seaside, the Astoria girls managed to score the first goal in Clatsop Clash play this season, then tacked on four more in a second half scoring explosion on their way to a 5-0 win over the Gulls. In Clatsop Clash girls soccer games since 1999, the five goals was the most scored since Seaside defeated Astoria 6-1 in a 2001 contest. Tied with 0-3-1 records in league play entering the contest, the Lady Fishermen picked up their first league win of the sea- son, with three games still remaining. Seaside’s young team drops to 0-4-1. Even more impressive — Astoria accomplished the win with just 12 play- ers in uniform. And two injuries had the Lady Fish down to 11 healthy players for a time. But Astoria was the more aggres- sive team from start to finish, attacking the Seaside goal with several shots in the opening minutes. Attempts by Meghan O’Meara and Elle Espelien in the first 11 minutes were saved by Seaside freshman keeper Aby- gale Brien, who made two more saves on shots by O’Meara in the 22nd and 24th minutes. But in the 26th minute, O’Meara scored the first Clatsop Clash goal of the season, blasting in a rebound shot for a 1-0 lead. From there, Espelien was off the mark on successive attempts, and Astoria fin- ished the first half with seven shots on goal to Seaside’s one. The real scoring did not begin until the second half. Four minutes, 53 seconds into the half, O’Meara dribbled a ball across the top of the penalty area from left to right, and sent a shot past a diving Brien into the Seaside net. In the 48th minute, Espelien stole a ball from a Seaside defender and con- verted the first of her two goals for a 3-nil advantage. Less than two minutes later, Espelien’s pass down the center of the field was gath- ered in by O’Meara, who scored her third goal of the night. And with 20:41 remaining in the game, Espelien scored her second goal off a deflected shot on goal, giving Astoria its most goals ever in a Clatsop Clash. The Fishermen had 11 shots on goal in the second half. Playing with no reserves for the final 25:22, Astoria kept the Gulls scoreless over the final 40 minutes. Astoria has three league games remain- ing, beginning Thursday at Banks. Sea- side plays Thursday at Valley Catholic. Seaside boys impressive in 4-1 win over Astoria By GARY HENLEY The Astorian SEASIDE — The Seaside Gulls were unranked in the lat- est coaches poll for class 4A boys soccer. Following their performance Tuesday night at Broadway Field, the Gulls may be demand- ing a recount. Because for an unranked team, the Gulls were looking very much like a Top 3 squad in a 4-1 win over Astoria. The second game of the Clat- sop Clash soccer doubleheader didn’t finish until nearly 10 p.m., and the Gulls looked wide awake during their battle with Astoria. Perhaps a bit fired up since having to settle for a 1-0 win in their last meeting with the Fish- ermen, the Gulls were flat-out unstoppable in the first half, as they took target practice on the Astoria net. Just two minutes, 43 seconds into the game, Seaside’s Dodger Holmstedt gathered in a long pass near the top of the penalty area. Holmstedt then dropped a short pass to teammate Stephen Snyder, who fired a shot into the Fishermen net for the game’s first goal. And the rout was on. The Gulls had five corner kicks in quick succession, with one shot on goal (from Alex Cam- puzano-Luna, saved by Astoria keeper Dylan Altheide-Nielson). Snyder, meanwhile, was play- ing at another level on Seaside’s Senior Night. The Seaside senior was out- racing everyone to the ball, and in the 11th minute, he sprinted past a pair of Astoria defenders and scored his second goal for a 2-nil lead. The Gulls were just warm- ing up, as a hard shot by Ryan Hague with 21:33 remain- ing slipped through the hands of Altheide-Nielson for a 3-0 advantage. And just minutes later, Sny- der had the hat trick, scoring his third goal off a deflected attempt by Holmstedt. That would be Seaside’s final goal of the night, but the Gulls kept firing laser-beam shots at the Astoria net. Some were saved by Altheide-Nielson, some deflected off the post and others ended up in the Broadway Field parking lot. With 21 of the 22 players on the field spending most of the first half on Astoria’s defensive side of the field, the Fishermen crossed midfield only four times and did not have a shot on goal. The Gulls kept the pres- sure on into the second half, but Altheide-Nielson made several big saves and the Fishermen held the Gulls scoreless over the final 40 minutes. Astoria had shots on goal from Jeremy Owen and Leo Mat- thews, which were both saved by Seaside keeper Patrick Chapman. The Fishermen scored their lone goal with 4:28 remaining in the game, with Javier Cam- pos Bermudez converting on an indirect free kick from teammate Michael Postlewait in front of the Seaside net. The Gulls finished the sec- ond half with five shots on goal. Westin Carter had Seaside’s final two shots with under a minute remaining. In Clatsop Clash boys soccer games since 1996, the series is now tied, 23-23-8. Seaside hosts Valley Cath- olic on Thursday. A win would put the Gulls into a first-place tie with the Valiants. PREP ROUNDUP Knappa sweeps Neah-Kah-Nie With the league playoffs fast approaching, the Knappa volley- ball team started tuning up for the post-season with a three-game sweep Tuesday night at Neah-Kah- Nie, 25-20, 25-17, 25-17. The Pirates scored the first four points of Game 1 before the Lady Loggers took over, outscoring Neah-Kah-Nie 25-16 from there to win the first set. The second game was close until Knappa went on a roll mid- way through the game, scoring six straight points to take command. Knappa trailed 8-1 in the third set before rallying for the win and the sweep. Hannah Dietrichs and Sophie Carlson led the Logger offensive attack with seven kills apiece, while Dietrichs was 10-for-10 from the service line. Taylin Regier made 20-of-23 of her floating jump serves, with three aces. Vicki Ramvick contributed five blocks, four kills and three ace serves, while Aiko Miller had 12 digs for the Loggers, who host Ver- nonia Thursday for Senior Night. Banks beats Astoria in three After losing to Astoria in the Sea- side tournament just three days ear- lier, the Banks Braves bounced back in a big way Tuesday night at the Brick House, sweeping the Fisher- men in a big Cowapa League vol- leyball showdown. The No. 7-ranked Braves scored a huge road win, 28-26, 25-20, 25-22, over the No. 6-ranked Lady Fishermen. Banks takes a one-match lead over Astoria in the league standings, with the Braves improving to 4-2 while the Fishermen drop to 3-3. Astoria returns to action Thurs- day at Tillamook, and will take part in a tournament at Marshfield Sat- urday before completing the regu- lar season next Tuesday at home vs. Valley Catholic. In other league action Tuesday, the Valiants swept Seaside 25-13, 25-14, 25-13 at the Gulls’ Nest. — The Astorian