PAGE LABEL MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, October 9, 2019 A9 WEDNESDAY October 9, 2019 Prospectors defeat Outlaws, Rockets at Dig Pink Rally Team faces Heppner, Stanfield this week By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle The Grant Union Prospector volleyball team hosted their 11th annual Dig Pink Rally for breast cancer awareness Saturday, defeat- ing both the Enterprise Outlaws and Pilot Rock Rockets in John Day. “It’s a really important cause for them, and I think they wanted to go 2-0,” said Grant Union head coach Ali Abrego. Dig Pink fundraising proceeds benefit local residents through the Blue Mountain Healthcare Foun- dation Mammography Fund. The atmosphere was festive with pink flamingos on the school’s front lawn and pink, red and white balloons and decorations at every corner of the foyer and gym. But when it came to the games, it was all business for the Blue Mountain Conference opponents. Grant Union defeated Enter- prise 3-1, the Prospectors winning with scores of 16-25, 25-13, 25-21 and 25-21. The Prospectors went on to sweep Pilot Rock 25-20, 25-9 and 25-11. “Enterprise is a scrappy team,” Abrego said after their first match. “They don’t stop pursuing the ball, even though it looks like it’s going out. It’s something to learn from.” Highlighting some of the play- ers in the game against the Out- laws, Abrego said Maddie Spencer played aggressively. “She’s our energizer bunny,” the coach said. “Paige Gerry, she had some big swings, and it was fun to see. Grace Taylor had awe- some serving.” Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter The Grant Union Prospectors celebrate their win over the Enterprise Outlaws Saturday at the Dig Pink Rally in John Day. From left, Kaytlyn Wells, Taylor Allen, Maddie Spencer, Paige Gerry, Carson Weaver and Grace Taylor. Prospector Kaytlyn Wells, a senior who had some blocks in the matches, was pleased with the wins. “I feel like our energy has been better than the past few games, and we’re really going to have to work for it this year,” she said. “We’re going to have to want it more than the other teams.” Grant Union hosts the Hep- pner Mustangs at 6:30 p.m. Thurs- day for a district match. The Pros- pectors host the Stanfield Tigers at noon and Weston-McEwen at 2 p.m. Saturday. Currently, the Union Bobcats lead the Blue Mountain Confer- ence standings with a 6-0 record, 14-2 overall. The Prospectors are tied 3-2 with Stanfield. Grant Union is 9-11 overall, and Stan- field is 14-5. Tiger volleyball team dominates Hornets in homecoming victory By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle The Dayville/Monu- ment Tiger volleyball team ruled the house Friday for homecoming, defeating the Harper Hornets 3-0 in Monument. The Tigers dominated the first two sets, 25-11 and 25-8, then let up a little for a 25-17 win in the third. Dayville/Monument’s Brooklyn Near, a senior, wowed the Tiger fans in the second set as the Hornets had a hard time returning her serves. The Tigers were up 8-0 before the Hornets got the ball back. Dayville/Mon- ument extended their lead again, this time 15-1, with senior Denali Twehues’ tough serving and aggres- sive spikes from senior Aubrey Bowlus and sopho- more Aubreianna Osborne. Tiger head coach Treila Osborne commented on Near’s serving. “She’s first server for a reason,” Osborne said. “She’s a powerhouse and gets that done for us. She starts us off.” The coach said her team relaxed a little in the third. Dayville/Monument had an early lead, then Harper started carving out a come- back. The score was 20-11 at about the midway point, and the Tigers were able to keep ahead for the 8-point win. “We had to pick it up,” Osborne said. “They touched a lot of our hits, and we just had to be ready for it to come back.” “When we sleep for awhile, then we’re not ready for the ball to come back which is normal for every team,” she said. “We served well, spoke well and com- municated well and pushed that ball in the back row, and that’s what helps win games.” She said, moving for- ward, they need to serve strong and block well. “Those are our strengths Grant Union Prospector Kaytlyn Wells (15) blocks Enterprise Outlaw Zeri Bathke at Saturday’s Dig Pink Rally. Grant Union Prospector Taylor Allen (14) prepares to slam the ball in Saturday’s match against the Enterprise Outlaws at the Dig Pink Rally in John Day. Tigers blast past the Loggers for homecoming By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle The Eagle/Angel Carpenter The Dayville/Monument Tigers celebrate their win over the Harper Hornets in Saturday’s homecoming match in Monument. From left, Denali Twehues (5), Aubrey Bowlus (23), Aubreianna Osborne (7), Brooklyn Near (2), Katie Barker (4) and Miranda Cook (11). The Eagle/Angel Carpenter The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Dayville/Monument Tiger Miranda Cook (11) prepares to spike the ball in Saturday’s game against the Harper Hornets. Dayville/Monument Tiger Brooklyn Near gets to the ball in Friday’s match against the Harper Hornets in Monument. as far as defense,” she said. Near said it was a bit- tersweet moment for the seniors on the team because it was their final match in Monument. “I’m super proud of our team,” Near said. “We just need to keep watching cov- erage and working hard.” Dayville/Monument hosted a Dig Pink Rally in Dayville on Saturday, rec- ognizing breast cancer survivors. The Tigers fell to Adrian 3-0, the Antelopes winning 25-22, 25-9 and 25-13. “Denali had an out- standing game,” Osborne said. “She had great sets/ assists and played well on the net. Our big middle Miranda Cook did a great job in protecting us at the net as well.” Bowlus had four kills, Twehues had five assists, Cook had four blocks and Near had four aces in Satur- day’s match, Dayville/Monument hits the road this week, fac- ing the Huntington Loco- motives at 4 p.m. Friday and the Jordan Valley Mus- tangs at 1 p.m. (MT) on Saturday. The Dayville/Monu- ment Tigers had their first win of the season Friday, for homecoming, 45-20, against the Mitchell/ Spray/Wheeler Loggers in Monument. “Sometimes you have to teach your team how to win,” said Tiger head coach Kyle Hand. “I think this is going to be a big confidence builder for us moving forward.” He said his team’s toughness, and no turn- overs in the game, con- tributed to their success. “We had some false starts in the first half, but we tackled a lot better than we have in the past, and we executed our offense a lot better,” he said. He said junior quarter- back JT Hand had a “stel- lar” offensive effort, and the line blocked well, including DJ Howell, Wesley Adams and Tell Cox, adding that Mark Thomas set up several offensive opportunities. “He’s our best defender by far,” coach Hand said of Thomas. “He just has an instinct to get to that ball.” Coach Hand added that Donovan Schafer got the ball to JT Hand in the offensive effort. Thomas said it was exciting to see his team- mates work for the win. “We had to come together as a team to get this win, and that’s some- thing we’ve been work- ing on for a long time,” he said. “We had to make sure we didn’t give up.” JT Hand, who scored four touchdowns for the day, said the team’s two weeks off helped. “We were very pre- pared, watched film and had a lot of conditioning,” he said. He said they were espe- cially strong in the second Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter Dayville/Monument Tiger Mark Thomas tackles Mitchell/ Spray/Wheeler Logger Tate Holmes in the Tiger’s homecoming game on Friday in Monument. half, and he’s pleased to break their losing streak, now 1-2 on the season. To start off the game, seventh-graders Jin Bo Ciochetti and Alexys Hull sang the national anthem. JT Hand scored Day- ville/Monument’s first touchdown on the first drive of the game. Thomas deflected a pass when the Loggers had possession, but the visitors scored on a fourth down, with quarterback Carter Boise connecting with Tate Holmes. The Tigers forced a turnover when How- ell recovered a Logger fumble, which led to JT Hand’s second touchdown in the game. At halftime, the Tigers led 18-13. Cox made it an 11-point lead when he scored a touchdown in the opening two minutes of the second half. Then JT Hand scored his fourth touchdown with Cox scoring the 1-point conversion. Tiger Zachary Fer- guison intercepted a Log- ger pass, making a short gain. In the fourth, Thomas scored a touchdown with Gauge Jenks making good on the 1-point conversion. As the clock wound down, Adams scored a Dayville/Monument Tiger quarterback JT Hand makes the carry with Tell Cox (42) following in Friday’s game against the Mitchell/Spray/ Wheeler Loggers. touchdown with Cowen Weaver adding the 1-point conversion. Dayville/Monument will face Huntington/ Harper on the road at 1 p.m. in Huntington, and the Tigers will finish the regular season on the road at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, when they face the Prairie City/Burnt River Panthers in Prairie City. Coach Hand said his team is moving forward with confidence and some “swagger that teenage boys need sometimes, so that’s going to help us move forward for Hun- tington and Prairie City to help us finish the league out.”