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Echo places three on BSL volleyball fi rst team
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
ECHO — The Echo Cougars stormed
through the Big Sky League with an 11-0
record and did not lose a set. It only stands
to reason they would garner three fi rst-team
selections to the all-league team.
Senior Faith McCarty was named the
Player of the Year by the league coaches,
while sophomore Nevaeh Thew and senior
Charlei Harwood were named to the fi rst
team.
Also on the fi rst team is Ione/Arlington
junior Madison Orem.
Echo, which will play at St. Paul in the
Harwood
McCarty
Thew
1A state quarterfi nals on Tuesday, Nov. 2,
has a 22-4 overall record. The Cougars won
the BSL district title with a sweep of South
Wasco County to earn a bye in the fi rst round
of state.
Echo swept Umpqua Valley Christian in
the second round of state Oct. 30 to run its
win streak to 10 matches.
McCarty led the Cougars
with 147 kills and also had
117 assists, 152 digs and 38
service aces.
Harwood had 74 kills, 48
aces,
43 digs, 14 blocks and
Orem
fi ve assists for the Cougars,
while Thew had 169 assists, 78 kills, 108
digs, 49 aces and nine blocks.
Orem served at 94% and handed out
504 assists for the Cardinals, who finished
the season with an 11-10 record. They lost
in the first of the 1A state tournament to
Powder Valley.
TIME FOR FAMILY
A10
BIG SKY LEAGUE VOLLEYBALL
Player of the Year — Faith McCarty, sr.,
Echo
First team — Nevaeh Thew, so., Echo;
Megan Aamodt, sr., Condon; Natalie Martin, jr.,
Sherman County; Charlei Harwood, sr., Echo;
Madison Orem, jr., Ione/Arlington; Allie Marker,
sr., Sherman County.
Second team — Lily Wallis, jr., Echo; Isabella
Mastriona, sr., Ione/Arlington; Kyrsten Smith,
sr., Condon; Adriana Gonzalez, sr., Bickleton;
Morgan Coe-Hand, fr., Spray/Mitchell; Callie
Denney, jr., Spray/Mitchell.
Honorable mention — Cali Johnson, sr.,
Sherman County; Halee Holman, jr., Echo;
Grade Ogden, sr., Ione/Arlington.
Pendleton volleyball coach
Amanda Lapp steps down
after eight years with team
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Amanda Lapp
has been playing or coaching volley-
ball since she was 10 years old. It was
understandable she would get a little
choked up talking about stepping
down as the head coach at Pendleton
High School.
Lapp spent 10 years with the
Bucks, two as an assistant to Jodi
Primus, and the past eight as head
coach.
“Volleyball has been a way of life
for me,” Lapp said. “I don’t know a
life without it.”
Lapp had a 76-77 record with the
Bucks, who won a Columbia River
Conference title her fi rst year in 2014.
They went to the state playoff s four
times, but never made it past the fi rst
round.
“It’s tough,” Lapp said. “My
entire staff has decided to step away.
It will be interesting as to who comes
in, what they do and continue that
Pendleton legacy.”
The decision to step away from
coaching came down to family.
Lapp and her husband Nick have an
18-month-old son, Carter, and her
time with her son was limited during
the past two volleyball seasons.
“It’s only a been a week, but he
sure loves it,” Lapp said of her son
having her home. “I usually try to
facetime him before my match starts.
On a long game day, I see him for
about 15 minutes in the morning. We
made it work.”
Between her full-time job as a
business manager for three schools
— Ukiah, Pilot Rock and North
Powder — through the Intermoun-
tain Education Service District and
coaching, it left little time for her
family, vacations with her extended
family, and Oregon State football.
“It has been more diffi cult than
I thought it would be,” Lapp said.
“I laid there and thought about it at
night, but my kid needs me more. I
am always here for those (volleyball)
kids. I put in my days, but they just
kept getting longer and longer. It was
time for me to be a mom. I love the
fall sports. I am a ride-or-die Oregon
Stater. I will enjoy going to Oregon
State games and enjoying the simple
life.”
An early start
Lapp played volleyball year
around from the time she was 10
until she was 17.
She played at Gresham High
School, but out of season she played
in the Columbia Empire Volleyball
Association.
“I was a one sporter,” Lapp
said. “Down there, you are part of
ON THE SLATE
Tuesday, Nov. 2
Prep volleyball
1A state volleyball: Echo at
St. Paul, TBD
Prep girls soccer
Thurston at Pendleton,
4 p.m.
Echo/Stanfi eld at Oregon
Episcopal, 4 p.m.
Yamhill-Carlton at River-
side, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 3
Prep boys soccer
4A state playoff s: Cottage
Grove at McLoughlin, 2 p.m.
3A/2A/1A state playoff s:
Sutherlin at Riverside, TBD
College men’s wrestling
Eastern Oregon vs.
Wyoming Community
College, American Falls,
Idaho, TBA
College men’s soccer
NWAC playoff s: Everett at
Blue Mountain, 1 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 4
Prep volleyball
District 8 playoff s: Hermis-
ton at Mount Spokane, 6 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 5
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton High School volleyball coach Amanda Lapp is stepping down after eight years.
the CEVA community. We played
tournaments in Colorado, Arizona,
Reno and California. I was also part
of the Nike Northwest Volleyball
program.”
Lapp went to Oregon State
University, and while she did not play
for the Beavers, she played for fun.
“I went to have a good time and
I played intramurals,” Lapp said. “I
coached seventh and eighth graders
at the Boys and Girls Club. That’s
how I got into coaching. When I
moved out here, I got in contact with
Jodi Primus and I was the JV coach
in 2012-13. When she stepped away,
I stepped up and took her position.”
few times, but we never made it to the
big dance,” Lapp said.
Lapp was pregnant during the
2019 season, and got to share that
experience with her team.
“I was pregnant with Carter in
fall 2019 and that team got to follow
that with me,” she said. “That was a
neat phase and journey in life I got to
share with those girls.”
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic
forced volleyball into the spring of
2021. Players had to wear masks
at practice and games, fans were
limited and there was no postseason.
“That was not fun,” Lapp said.
8 years’ worth of changes
Lapp coached her fi nal match on
Oct. 25, a 3-0 home win over Baker.
“It’s still a pretty raw and
emotional decision I made,” Lapp
said. “I will miss it a lot. There are
kids who are still in the program,
who I’ve coached for years, but it
would always be that way. Sauren
(Garton) is a senior, and I have had
her since she was a third-grader.
You never forget the players. Darian
Lindsey was on the 2014 team. I had
Aspen Garton, and now Sauren. I had
Mori Yoshioka, and now Nora. Every
year I put these banners together
with the pictures the girls take, and
team photos. They hang in my offi ce.
When Lapp fi rst started coach-
ing at Pendleton, the Bucks were in
the Columbia River Conference with
Hermiston, Hood River Valley and
The Dalles.
“We played each other three times
a season,” Lapp said. “No long hauls,
but just long enough.
When Hermiston jumped to
the Mid-Columbia Conference in
Washington in 2018, the league
got revamped to the Intermountain
Conference with Crook County,
Hood River, Redmond, Ridgeview
and The Dalles.
“We went to the state playoff s a
Packing away the memories
So many things go into each team.
Those pictures bring back a lot of
memories.”
Lapp always washed the team’s
jerseys, and as she was packing away
the JV 2 jerseys, she came across one
that had had a story to it.
“Those were the fi rst varsity ones
we had,” she said. “No. 6, which was
Aspen Garton’s, had two holes in the
back. I remember her diving to the
fl oor and it made those holes. If only
the uniforms could talk.”
As Lapp talked about her teams
and players, she realized the 2017
team should be about done with
college, and some already have fami-
lies.
“I have had such an awesome
group of athletes come through this
program,” she said. “It’s kind of fun
to see where life has taken them as I
follow them through that. Coaching
doesn’t stop when they graduate.”
As word spread that she hung up
her whistle, Lapp said people have
reached out to her.
“It has been interesting, tough and
emotional,” she said. “I don’t know
Pendleton without Pendleton volley-
ball. I don’t think I will be away
forever, but I am looking forward to
vacations with my whole family and
being able to watch our kids grow up
together. It’s a good blessing to have.”
Prep football
5A state playoff s: Dallas at
Pendleton, 7 p.m.
1A state playoff s: Ione/
Arlington at St. Paul, 7 p.m.
MCC-GSL crossover game:
Ridgeline at Hermiston,
7 p.m.
College volleyball
Blue Mountain at
Wenatchee Valley, 6 p.m.
Eastern Oregon at North-
west, 7 p.m.
College cross-country
Eastern Oregon at Cascade
Collegiate Conference Cham-
pionships, TBA
College men’s basketball
Eastern Oregon at Whit-
man, 7 p.m.
College women’s basket-
ball
Whitman at Eastern
Oregon, 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 6
Prep football
2A state playoff s: Weston
McEwen at Toledo, 1 p.m.
2A state playoff s: Regis at
Heppner, 4 p.m.
Prep cross-country
3A/2A/1A State Champi-
onships, Lane Community
College, TBD
Pendleton at 5A State
Championships, Lane
Community College, TBD
Hermiston at 3A State
Championships, Pasco, 1 p.m.
College football
Eastern Oregon at College
of Idaho, noon
College volleyball
Eastern Oregon at Ever-
green State, 5 p.m.
SPORTS SHORT
Gonzaga rolls to win over Eastern Oregon
East Oregonian
SPOKANE — The Eastern
Oregon University men’s basketball
team played its fi rst exhibition game
of the season on Sunday, Oct. 31, in
a match-up against No. 1-ranked
Gonzaga University.
The Zags walked away with a
115-62 win in front of a full house
of 6,000 at a McCarthey Athletic
Center, Spokane.
Gonzaga led 55-27 at the half,
then outscored EOU 60-35 in the
second half.
The Zags jumped out to a 10-0
lead before the Mountaineers’s Pres-
ton Chandler found the net with a
3-pointer. The lead quickly went
to 20-7 before EOU cut the defi cit
to 27-15. That would be as close as
Eastern would get the rest of the way.
The Zags forced 25 turnovers and
turned those into a 38-3 advantage in
points off turnovers. Gonzaga also
had 11 blocked shots.
Julian Strawther led the Zags in
scoring with 18 points — all in the
fi rst half. He nailed all three 3-point-
ers for the Zags on fi ve attempts, and
went 5 of 6 from the free-throw line.
He also had nine rebounds.
Chet Holmgren put up 17 points
and had eight rebounds for Gonzaga,
while Kaden Perry added 12 points.
Manny N’tula led EOU with 15
points. Brandon Porter added nine
points, and Xavier Lovelace had
seven rebounds.
The Mountaineers suff ered inju-
ries to all-time leading scorer Max
McCullough (knee), who left the
game early in the fi rst half, and to
Paul Pennington (arm). The EOU
men’s basketball team is back in
action Nov. 5 when it heads to Walla
Walla to battle Whitman College.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
Eastern Oregon University Athletics/Contributed Photo
Eastern Oregon University sophomore Xavier Lovelace jumps with
the ball during an exhibition match Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021, against
Gonzaga University in Spokane. The No. 1 Zags defeated EOU 115-62.