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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.”