Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Friday, January 27, 2017
Tennis
Men’s College Basketball
Williams sisters, Federer back in finals Beard’s
By JOHN PYE
Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia — It
was one, two and three for the
ages as Venus and Serena Williams
set up another all-sisters final
and Roger Federer ensured he’ll
contend for another Australian
Open title.
They’re calling it Throwback
Thursday at Melbourne Park: three
players with a combined 46 Grand
Slam titles and a combined age of
106 advanced to the finals.
Six-time Australian Open
winner Serena Williams over-
whelmed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni
6-2, 6-1 in just 50 minutes in the
second of women’s semifinals,
after Venus Williams beat fellow
American CoCo Vandeweghe 6-7
(3), 6-2, 6-3.
The only person standing
between
35-year-old
Serena
Williams and an Open-era
record 23rd Grand Slam title is
36-year-old Venus Williams, the
oldest player to reach an Australian
Open women’s final in the modern
era. She is the oldest player since
Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon
in 1994 to reach a women’s major
final anywhere.
“It felt really good because
I felt like it was in my hands to
force this Williams final,” Serena
Williams said. “Believe it or not, I
was feeling a little pressure about
that, but it felt really good to get
that win.”
At 35, Federer is the oldest man
to reach a Grand Slam final since
Ken Rosewall made the 1974 U.S.
Open final at the age of 39.
He had a 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6,
6-3 win in an all-Swiss semifinal
against Stan Wawrinka, who has
won three majors — the Australian
in 2014, the French in 2015 and
the U.S. Open last year — in the
time since Federer captured the last
of his record 17, at Wimbledon in
2012.
Wawrinka broke his racket
over his knee in the second set. He
needed a medical timeout before
the third, came out with his right
knee taped, and rallied to force
Federer to five for the first time
before double-faulting to give up
the vital break in the sixth game.
Federer, coming back from six
months on the sidelines to rest his
injured left knee, made no mistake
in closing out. He will next play
Sunday against the winner of
Friday’s semifinal between 14-time
major winner Rafael Nadal and
Grigor Dimitrov.
“I felt like everything happened
so quickly,” Federer said. “It
feels amazing. I never, ever in
my wildest dreams thought I was
going to be coming this far here in
Australia. It’s beautiful.”
The women’s final on Saturday
night will be the first all-Williams
final here since 2003, when Serena
won what Venus has described as a
“battle royale.”
Returning to her first final since
then in Melbourne was a momen-
tous occasion for Venus Williams,
given her struggles to overcome
an energy-sapping illness since
being diagnosed with Sjogren’s
syndrome in 2011. She hasn’t
been in a Grand Slam final since
losing 2009 Wimbledon to Serena.
“Everyone has their moment in
the sun,” she said. “Maybe mine
has gone on a while. I’d like to
keep that going. I’ve got nothing
else to do so let’s keep it going.”
She was exuberant after
clinching her win Vandeweghe
on her fourth match point, putting
hands up to her face, almost in
disbelief, before crossing her
arms over her heart. She then did
a stylish pirouette on the court,
smiling broadly, as the crowd gave
her a standing ovation.
Serena Williams’ celebration
was more subdued after her
lopsided win over 34-year-old
Lucic-Baroni, who was playing
her first semifinal at a major since
Wimbledon in 1999. There was
a warm embrace for the woman
she’d played only twice before —
both times in 1998.
Of all the comeback stories in
the tournament, Lucic-Baroni’s
return to the top level after so
much time struggling out of the
game has captured the most heart-
felt attention. After finishing the
semifinal — notable for the record
combined ages of the players at
a major — Lucic-Baroni took a
selfie with her cell phone on the
career night
paces Owls
court before waving and leaving
Rod Laver Arena.
Serena
Williams
said
Lucic-Baroni’s comeback served
as an inspiration for other players.
Her own sister has also been an
inspiration.
“Obviously I was really proud
of Venus — a total inspiration,
my big sister,” Serena said. “She’s
basically my world and my life. I
was so happy for her. For us both to
be in the final is the biggest dream
come true for us.”
Venus Williams has won
seven major titles, but none since
Wimbledon in 2008. Her seven-
and-a-half year gap between major
finals is the longest for any player
in the Open era. She’s also lost
six of the eight Grand Slam finals
she’s played against Serena, and is
11-16 in their career meetings at
tour-level.
The 25-year-old Vandeweghe,
playing her maiden Grand Slam
semifinal, was the first player to
take a set off Venus Williams in the
tournament, but then had her serve
broken four times.
Venus Williams said she’d take
a winning attitude into the final
against her sister, and had nothing
to lose.
“She’s my toughest opponent
— nobody has ever beaten me
as much as Venus has,” Serena
Williams acknowledged. But,
“I just feel like no matter what
happens, we’ve won ... a Williams
is going to win this tournament.”
East Oregonian
KLAMATH FALLS — Led by
the double-double of senior post
Bryan Beard, the Oregon Tech
men’s basketball team rolled to a
106-85 win over Multnomah on
Thursday night.
Beard, a 2012
Pendleton
High
graduate, finished
with a career-high
21 points and
11 rebounds to
lead the Hustlin’
Owls (17-6, 10-3
Beard
CCC), which lead
Eastern Oregon by
one game for second place in the
Cascade Collegiate Conference.
Oregon Tech used a 17-7 run in
the first half to take a 31-14 lead by
the midway point. The Owls hit 60
percent of their shots in the first half
and led 61-35 at halftime.
Beard shot 10 for 12 (83.3
percent) from the field and hit OIT’s
first basket in the game and the
Owls never trailed. Thirteen of his
points came in the second half, and
six of his rebounds were within the
first two minutes after halftime.
Oregon Tech’s next game is
Saturday when it hosts Warner
Pacific at 3 p.m.
of the Week
BULLDOGS: Ortiz, Andreason big off the bench Athlete
Twenty questions with
Continued from 1B
“We were just bad on
defense, honestly,” Herm-
iston senior Xavier Rambo
said of the first half effort.
“They were getting wide
open looks and we really
didn’t do anything about it.
But we had a talk in the break
to keep our hands up and
don’t let off, do the simple
things we weren’t doing in
the first half and it worked.”
Rambo was a big factor
for Hermiston’s offense in
the first half, scoring 16 of
his game-high 21 points
there. The Eagles defense
was slow to keep track of the
quick six-footer, as Rambo
hung out in the middle of
Hood River’s zone defense at
the free throw line and turned
several entry passes into easy
floaters and lay-ins.
Hermiston (12-4, 2-0
CRC) also had to overcome
a poor performance in the
rebounding department, as
Hood River earned numerous
second-chance points and
scoring opportunities because
of offensive rebounds. The
Bulldogs were at a bit of a
height disadvantage as Hood
River (5-9, 0-2) deployed six
players at least 6-feet tall on
Thursday, including a pair of
6-6 players, while Hermiston
has just three.
But head coach Casey
Arstein said that the disad-
vantage isn’t an excuse, as he
said his team simply did not
box out well enough.
“We’ve been struggling
with it all year, but we need
to do a better job of boxing
out and not just watching the
ball,” Arstein said. “At times
it was one of those games
where the ball came off the
rim and we were trying to
jump with them instead of
boxing them out, we’ve just
gotta work on it.”
Holding a 36-30 lead at
the halftime break, Hermiston
came out in the third quarter
with some fresh legs and a
renewed intensity on both
ends of the floor. The Bull-
dogs shot 7-12 (58 percent)
from the floor in the third
quarter and then held Hood
River to 5-11 (45 percent) to
grow their lead to 10 points at
55-45 to end the third.
Hermiston bench players
played a big factor in the
third and fourth quarters
on Thursday, stepping in
for starters Andrew James,
Hunter, Walls, and Thomas
McCullough who all had
four fouls midway through
the half. Two players that
really stepped up were
sophomores Cesar Ortiz and
Ryne Andreason as each
player chipped in two made
3-pointers and seven points.
Andreason only recently
came back to play after
missing approximately six
weeks due to a fractured
wrist, and Arstein said he
was really impressed with
how Andreason played.
“I was really proud of
Ryne,” Arstein said. “He’s
one of the smartest kids in the
program, basketball IQ-wise
and he has a great looking
shot. He had a good summer
and I thought he might make
a good role player for us this
year and he showed it with a
good night tonight.
“And same with Cesar, he
played really smart, didn’t
do anything to really hurt us,
and hit some big shots.”
In the fourth quarter, Hood
River gave the Bulldogs all
they had to get back in it. The
Eagles pressured the Bulldogs
with a half-court, trap zone
defense, not allowing Herm-
iston very many open looks at
the basket. In fact, Hermiston
only attempted six shots from
the floor in that fourth quarter
compared to Hood River’s 13.
But where Hermiston was
able to hold off the Eagles
was at the free throw line, as
the Bulldogs went 9-14 from
the line in the fourth quarter.
Andrew James and Jordan
Ramirez had the bulk of those
attempts as James went 4-6
and Ramirez went 3-4. James
finished the game with 18
points and Ramirez also got
into double figures with 11.
Hood River was led by JJ
Mears with 20 points — with
nine of those coming in the
fourth quarter — and Dakota
Kurahara had 16.
“I’ll give it up to Hood
River,” Arstein said. “They
played hard and they played
well and tried to bully us
inside and we’ll have to do a
better job next time, but I’ll
take the win.”
SCARY MOMENT
One play from Thursday’s
game left Bulldog fans and
players feeling nervous. With
3:46 left in the third quarter,
Xavier Rambo fell hard to the
floor after getting undercut
by a Hood River defender
on a fast-break lay-in
attempt. When Rambo fell,
he appeared to hit the back
of his head and neck area on
the floor, and instantly was in
obvious pain, resulting in the
Dawg House falling silent.
After staying down for
approximately one minute,
Rambo got up and walked off
the court under his own power.
“I was kind of scared
because I thought it might be
my second concussion this
year,” Rambo said afterward.
Rambo said that he went
through several concussion
protocol tests with the team
trainer and was cleared, and
came back to play the entire
fourth quarter.
UP NEXT: Hermiston
heads east to take on Pend-
leton on Tuesday evening.
———
HRV
19 12 15 16 — 61
HHS
17 19 19 14 — 69
HOOD RIVER — JJ Mears 20, D.
Kurahara 16, E. Siekkinen 7, T. Hough 7, M.
Williams 4, T. Wells 2, Z. Moore 1.
HERMISTON — X. Rambo 21, A. James
18, J. Ramirez 11, C. Ortiz 7, R. Andreason
7, H. Walls 3, K. Moss 2, T. McCullough, A.
Earl, P. Wicks.
3-pointers — HRV 6, HHS 8. Free throws
— HRV 8-15, HHS 17-32. Fouls — HRV 22,
HHS 17. Fouled out — H. Walls (HHS).
DAWGS: Next up is rivalry game at Pendleton on Tuesday
Continued from 1B
already got a pretty high
basketball IQ so it’s all about
getting used to the speed,”
he said. “She’s doing a really
good job running the offense
from the point.”
Rileigh Andreason added
nine points and Jordan
Thomas chipped in eight for
the Bulldogs.
Hood River (6-6, 0-2)
was led by Emily Curtis with
seven points, and the Eagles
trailed 28-11 at halftime.
It was the second win this
week for the Bulldogs, which
started with a win over The
Dalles 53-36 on Monday
before dropping a non-league
billing to Sunnyside (WA)
48-43.
“I thought the girls played
well,” Rodriguez said. “It’s
our third game in four nights
so I was a little worried about
that. We were expecting a
dog fight and I think our girls
came out and put any hope of
them giving us that fight out
of their minds pretty early.”
Hermiston’s next game
is Tuesday when it plays at
Pendleton with tip-off sched-
uled for 5:45 p.m.
———
HHS
13 15 10 17 — 55
HRV
6 5
9
5 — 25
HERMISTON — J. Romero 11, M. Juul
11, R. Andreason 9, J. Thomas 8, K. Padilla
6, H. Meyers 6, S. Stefani 2, S. Gilbert 2,
C. Wheeler, H. Thompson, M. Wilson, R.
Meyers.
HOOD RIVER — E. Curtis 7, N. Lopez 4,
A. Goodman 4, L. Orr 4, H. McNerney 3,
L. Weekly 2, A. Kinoshita 1, H. Baker, B.
Frazier, B. Idhe.
3-pointers — HHS 2; HRV 1. Free throws
— HHS 5-8; HRV 6-8. Fouls — HHS 8;
HRV 9.
HILLMICK: Summer ball helps get attention of coaches
Continued from 1B
said. “When I get done with
athletics I still want to spend
time around sports.”
Thanks in part to the
quality care she’s received
over the years, however,
that isn’t looking like will
be anytime soon and on
Wednesday night Hillmick
signed her National Letter
of Intent to play softball at
Willamette University.
A three-sport varsity
athlete for the TigerScots
who also plays volleyball
and basketball, Hillmick said
softball has always been her
favorite sport.
“I have two older brothers
who played baseball so I
was just around that kind of
sport,” she said. “I played
volleyball,
soccer
and
basketball also, but just being
out on the diamond made me
happy and it was a sport that
I wanted to put that much
work into.
“I have been playing
softball since I was seven
and that is when I first fell
in love with the game. Since
then I knew I wanted to play
college softball and I made
that my goal.”
Through her summer ASA
teams and then later playing
in Northwest Fastpitch tour-
naments, Hillmick was able to
showcase her skills to coaches
throughout the northwest, and
was drawing interest from
more than a handful of other
programs including Utah
State, George Fox and Pacific
among others.
“I’ve been playing ASA
since I was nine and so
playing ASA and traveling
all over the place, and I’ve
gotten to play some tourna-
ments in Colorado and Utah.
I’ve gotten to see coaches all
over the place,” she said. “I
feel like that’s what had got
me the most looks.
“I had a lot of schools
looking at me, in the end
I was choosing between
George Fox and Willamette
as my top two choices but
Willamette was always my
first choice. Once I first
stepped on campus, I knew
that this was the place that I
belonged.”
Hillmick,
who
was
recruited as a middle
infielder and pitcher, said
Willamette head coach
Damian Williams, the trees
on campus and the town of
Salem were all big factors in
her choosing the Bearcats,
which compete at the NCAA
Div. III level.
“I picked Willamette
because I felt that it was the
right fit for me. The coach
is awesome, the campus is
beautiful, and the education
is better then anything I could
ever ask for,” she said.
With her future plans in
place, Hillmick said she’s
just looking to get as much
enjoyment out of her time
remaining as a TigerScot.
“I just want to go out and
have fun with my teammates
and have a good winning
season and finish out high
school with good memo-
ries,” she said. “I would like
to thank Jeff Griggs, Rollie
Marshall, my parents, all of
my friends, and everyone
at Weston-McEwen High
School for everything they
have done for me to help
me get where I am today.
I couldn’t have done it
without them!”
———
Contact Matt Entrup at
mentrup@eastoregonian.
com or (541) 966-0838.
Pendleton’s Jon Jennings
East Oregonian
PENDLETON
—
Pendleton High senior Jon
Jennings has brought back
multiple wins from each of
the Buckaroos’ swim meets
this season. On Saturday,
Jan. 21, he was first in the
100-yard breaststroke and
butterfly, and also swam
for the first-place 400-yard
freestyle relay team at the
Hood River meet. He has
been named the East Orego-
nian Athlete of the Week for
the week of Jan. 15-21.
EO: What was the first
sport you played?
JJ: It would probably
have to be soccer.
What is the most difficult
thing about swimming?
The technique, all the
mechanics.
That’s your favorite
swimming stroke?
Freestyle
What’s your best
memory in the pool?
Being able to swim
with my brother Nick in
his last race of his high
school year.
Who is your favorite
athlete?
Michael Phelps
If you could attend any
sporting even what would
it be?
Totally the Olympics.
What are your hobbies
outside of sports?
I like going and shooting
with my brothers and
hunting.
Where’s your favorite
place in Oregon?
The Eagle Caps
What’s your favorite
kind of cake?
Ice cream cake
What’s your favorite
animated movie?
Megamind (2010)
What’s the best thing
served in the PHS
cafeteria?
The chicken sandwich
What’s your favorite
restaurant?
Olive Garden
What’s the best gift you
ever received?
My mom got me a new
shotgun for Christmas
this year.
What’s your favorite
subject in school?
Physics
Are you a member of
any other school groups/
clubs?
National Honor Society
What are your plans for
after high school?
I’m going to go on my
mission with my church.
What’s the most
interesting thing you’ve
learned this school year?
How small we are in the
universe.
What’s your favorite
wintertime activity?
Driving around in the
snow.
What’s your favorite
sandwich topping?
Pickles
Who’s your favorite US
President?
I’ve got to say Trump.
ATHLETE
OF THE WEEK
Jon Jennings
Pendleton
Senior Swimmer
Jennings earned
first place in the 100
yard butterfly (56.62),
100 yard backstroke
(57.24) and anchored
the first place 400
yard relay team while his Pendleton boys
team took second at the Hood River
swim meet on Saturday.
P ROUDLY S PONSORED B Y :
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• Arthroscopy • Foot & Ankle
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Advanced Orthopedic
& Sports Medicine Institute
620 NW 11th St., Ste. 201, Hermiston
www.hermistonortho.com
541-289-7075