Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1997)
FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, November 12, 1997 Mustang volleyball team captures fourth at state Receives sportsmanship trophy By Molly Rhoa ' • : . ; . . • • . . f - . - . r v • 7 *T . The Heppner Mustangs went to the University of Portland's Chiles Center to compete in the 2A State Volleyball Tournament November 7 and 8 and not only earned the fourth place trophy, but also brought home the award for sportsmanship. The Mustang fans sailed through the Gorge in flying V formation to be witness to, and cheer on the team that has just completed the best year of volleyball in Heppner’s history. The Mustangs demonstrated that they showed up to play and nearly knocked the top-ranked Santiam Christian Eagles off their perch in the first match late Friday afternoon. After a hard fought three games, the Heppner squad ended up losing the match, 15-12, 12-15, 10-15. The Mustangs came out with intensity in the first game and Lexi Matteson smashed down a kill on the Eagles' first serve to set the tone and earn Heppner the sideout. Santiam Christian was able to pull out to a 5-1 lead before the Mustangs circled their wagons and gradually pulled ahead, 6-5. The Eagles' setter. Dam Arlyn, scored points six through eight before Annie Hisler and Matteson joined forces to block down a hit. Amber Peck went back to score points seven through nine, two of these off aces, to put the Mustangs again up by one. The Eagles tied the game at nine, then a Jill Barber tip went off a blocker to gain the ball for Heppner. Jessica VanWinkle scored point 10 with the help of a block from Petra Elguezabal, and 11 off of a missed attack, to put the Mustangs in the lead for good. Jaci Hughes aced point 12 and scored point 13 on a missed attack. The Eagles battled back to within one point before Jill Barber scored 14 behind a kill from Annie Hisler and Elguezabal finished up the scoring with help from a Matteson tip to win the first game, 15-12. The Mustangs were able to sustain their momentum in game two and jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Santiam Christian came storming back to tie it up. The Mustangs were up 5-4 when Eagle Shelly Boshart went back to score points five through eight. It was obvious to everyone except the line judge that the Eagle attack on their point nine attempt went long. The line judge had been distracted at this critical point due to a loose ball from the match in the next court and it was ruled a replay. This may have been the pivotal ruling that ultimately bumped the Mustangs out of the winner's bracket. Whatever the case, Boshart went on to score three more points to put the Eagles ahead 11-5 before the Mustangs gained the sideout off a penalty. The Mustangs dug down and battled back. Barber scored point six with a Hisler kill, Elguezabal scored point seven on a long tip from Matteson, aced point eight, and made points nine and 10 behind kills by Janelle Healy to pull within one. Santiam Christian then pulled out to a 14- 10 lead before serving out the back. Hisler aced point 11 and scored the 12th point off a four hit penalty then an Eagle hitter shanked one off a double block. Santiam Christian took that opportunity to score game point to win game two 15-12. In game three the Mustangs once again jumped out to an early lead of 5-0 before the Eagles came flapping back to tie it up.. Heppner surged ahead 8- 5, only to have Santiam Christian battle back and tie the score at eight. Then an Eagle server went back and served up points nine through 14 before a hit went wide. Hisler scored Heppner's 10th point with a kill from Jill Barber The Eagles reclaimed the ball on an errant Heppner hit and, after a long rally, were able to score game point to win the game. 15-10, and take the match. Hitting stats for the match had Lexi Matteson successfully hitting 14 of 17 attempts with seven kills; Annie Hisler had six kills hitting 18/19; Petra Elguezabal killed seven balls, hitting 13/15; Mindy Binschus had two kills, hitting 5/7; Jill Barber hit 8/8; Janelle Healy had two kills; and Jaci Hughes' incredible play in the backcourt Annie Hisler (left) receives All-Tournament award. The Mustangs collect the fourth place trophy. prevented multiple Eagle kills. Losing in the first round put the Mustangs into the consolation bracket matching up with the seventh-ranked Monroe Dragons on Saturday morning. The Mustangs eliminated the Dragons, 15-11,9-15, 15-7. In game one Heppner had the first serve and Jill Barber started off the action by acing the first point. Monroe gained the sideout but a kill by Annie Hisler prevented them from scoring. A service error turned the ball back to the Dragons, but this time Lexi Matteson prevented the score by slamming down a kill. Amber Peck scored point two off a net penalty and aced point three before a Monroe hitter shanked one off of a Mindy Binschus1 block. Hisler again prevented a Monroe score as she dinked to a kill. Monroe's Heather Wall was able to score points one and two before Binschus blocked a hit down to the floor to take back the ball. Jessica VanWinkle scored Heppner's fourth point on a missed attack and aced point five before Monroe's Amssa Meashintubby slammed down a kill. Binschus prevented the Dragon's next attempt by blocking down the hit attempt by Meashintubby, then went back to score the Mustangs sixth point off a Monroe penalty. Heppner was up 6-2 when Monroe's Mandy Roler went back to score points three through six to tie the score. Lexi Matteson provided the kill to gam the sideout for the Mustangs. Jill Barber scored point seven with Petra Elguezabal providing the block, aced point eight and scored nine on a missed attack before a Mustang attack went wide. Monroe scored their seventh point but then were unable to handle an Elguezabal tip. Amber Peck scored point 10 on a four-hit penalty, aced points 11 and 12, and scored 13 with help from a Jessica VanWinkle block before losing the service due to a Mustang penalty. Monroe put up points eight and nine and then was stopped by an Annie Hisler kill. Hisler then scored Heppner's 14th point on an attack that went wide. A Monroe hitter killed the ball for the sideout. The Dragons were able to score point 10 and 11 off missed attacks by the Mustangs then Barber slammed one down to take the sideout. VanWinkle scored game point with a hit coming from Janelle Healy and Jill Barber racking up the kill to win, 15-11. The Mustangs couldn't seem to maintain their intensity in the second game against Monroe and quickly found themselves trailing 0-6. VanWinkle scored three points off of a Binschus kill and a couple of Monroe errors, then the Dragons belched fire behind the hitting of Meashintubby to stretch their lead to 13-6. Jill Barber scored point four with Matteson providing the block and point five on a tip kill by Hisler before Monroe gained another sideout. The Dragons committed a net penalty to send the ball back. Casey Ingraham's service for the sixth point was returned right back to Matteson who leapt up and slammed down the kill and Ingraham aced point eight. Monroe regained the ball only to serve into foul territory. Lexi Matteson scored point eight with Annie Hisler threading the double block for the kill, and point nine on a Binschus tip, before the Mustangs turned the ball over on a penalty. Monroe went on to score the final two points to end the second game 9- 15. The Mustangs were back in full force for game three as Jill Barber served them to a 3-0 lead. The Dragons answered with two points before a serving error turned the ball back to Heppner. The Mustangs were unable to score off Elguezabal's serve, then allowed the Dragons to ace point three to tie the score. Lexi Matteson slammed down a kill to prevent the go-ahead point and the Mustangs never allowed the lead to be challenged again. Amber Peck scored Heppner's third point. Annie Hisler scored point four behind a Mindy Binchus kill, point five with the Dragons in the net, and point six with the kill coming from Jill Barber. The attempt at point seven failed only after a long rally. The Dragons scored points four and five before Barber slammed down another kill to claim the ball for the Mustangs. Jessica VanWinkle scored points seven through 11. Monroe was able to post two more points with their next two servers before serving into the net and allowing Elguezabal's service to finish off the attack. The Mustangs took the game and the match, 15-7, and earned the right to play for the consolation title. Annie Hisler led the Mustangs' attack against Monroe, successfully hitting 23 of 25 attempts with eight kills, Mindy Binschus went 14/17 with seven kills; Lexi Matteson hit 15/18 with six kills; Jill Barber had six kills from 10/13 hits; Petra Elguezabal went 14/19 with four kills; and Jessica VanWinkle racked up two kills. Heppner was matched against the Gervais Cougars in the battle for the fourth place trophy, and the Mustang squad always appeared to be in control as they took the w in. 15-10, 15- 7. Gervais scored the first point on the first serve in the first game, and that was the last time they were in the lead, as their second serve went into the net. Jill Barber aced point one and scored point two with an Elguezabal kill for the Mustangs before Gervais' Liz Howe slammed down a kill. Elguezabal scored point three with help from a Jessica VanWinkle kill. Jaci Hughes came up with the save for point four, and points five, six and seven came off Cougar's missed attacks or penalties before serving out the side. Jaci Hughes racked up a back row kill to prevent Gervais from scoring and Annie Hisler served point eight with Mindy Binschus' shanking a hit off Cougar blockers. The teams traded sideouts for the next four servers, then Gervais was finally able to score their second point. A hit from Elguezabal threaded the double block for a kill to earn the Mustang sideout. Jill Barber scored point nine with Hisler out- tipping Gervais' 5'11" Howe, and point 11 came with the help of the save by Hughes and a tip-kill from Matteson. The Cougars were forced to play defense and were trailing 2- 10 when they came slinking back and, with their next six servers, narrowed the lead to 7-10 before the Mustangs jumped back into the fray. Barber went back to score point 11 with the kill coming from Elguezabal. Gervais scored their eighth off a missed attack, then fouled off the serve. Four servers later Annie Hisler scored points 12 through 14 with strong net play coming from Barber and Binschus, then 5'11" Tiffany Prinslow stuffed her attempt at game point. Binschus racked up a kill to prevent a Cougar point, but Prinslow responded by stuffing the next Mustang serve put up by VanWinkle. Prinslow scored points nine and 10 before Binschus and Elguezabal teamed up to block a hit and send Binschus back to ace game point off an attempted stuff to win the first game, 15-10. Jill Barber started off the second game by scoring the first point off a missed attack, then the Mustangs were called on a net penalty to turn the ball over. Elguezabal prevented the Cougars from scoring on their first attempt with a tip kill, then missed her serve to send the ball back to the Cougars. The Cougars took the advantage and scored two points. Their lead was short lived as Annie Hisler smashed down a kill to give the ball over to Brooke Boyer for the serve. Boyer scored point two on a Binschus kill and aced point three before serving out the back. Hisler had a tip kill on the next Cougar serve to earn the sideout and sending herself behind the line. Hisler scored point four on a back row kill from Elguezabal, aced point five and earned point six with a kill by Binschus before her serve went long. Barber silenced the Cougar serve with a kill sending Jessica VanWinkle to the batter's box. VanWinkle scored point seven with help from a Boyer save; point eight came as the Gervais setter twisted an ankle and muffed the set (she didn’t come out of the game) and she aced Heppner ninth point before the Mustangs turned the ball back. Down 9-2, Gervais was able to hold off the Mustang attack to score their final five points. Boyer served up Heppner’s 10th point, but her attempt at 11 was stopped by a Cougar kill. On the Cougars' final serve Boyer went Mindy Binschus goes up high for the return. No. 8 is Jessica VanWinkle. down tor the save and the Mustangs sent Annie Hisler back to finish the job. Hisler aced point 11, scored 12 on a missed attack, 13 with a kill from Binschus, 14 off of a shook up Gervais squad. The game point came with another Binschus kill to claim fourth place and Heppner's first state volleyball trophy. Mindy Binschus led the Heppner hitters against Gervais by successfully hitting 17/17 with 10 kills; Annie Hisler went 15/17 with eight kills; Lexi Matteson was 16/16 with three kills; Petra Elguezabal hit 10/11 with six kills; and Jill Barber had three kills, hitting 11/12. Jaci Hughes was picking up hits everywhere in the back court and provided a backrow kill. "This is a wonderful team that put out an outstanding effort," said coach Terri Gentry. "They played as a team and never backed off. This was an exciting weekend that none of us will ever forget.” The Mustang team stayed to watch Santiam Christian take the championship in three games over Amity, 3-15, 19-17, 15-12, before accepting the sportsmanship award and their fourth place trophy. Senior setter/hitter Annie Hisler was named to the all-state second team. Symphony, chorale to perform The Oregon East Symphony and Chorale will be in concert in Heppner on Saturday, November 22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Heppner Middle School gym. This will mark the symphony's first performance in Heppner. There will be no admission charge for the event which was funded by the Morrow County Unified Recreation District and the Meyer Memorial Trust. The Morrow County Arts Council and Oregon East Symphony Outreach also helped make arrangements for the concert. The evening, entitled "Vistas, Visions and Voices", will start off with the symphony's performance of the beautiful Symphony #3, written by well known composer Johannes Brahms. The second half of the program will feature the Oregon East Symphony's 55- voice Chorale. The Chorale will perform two selections by contemporary composers. First will be "Visions of St. John" by John Ness Beck, followed by "To St. Cecilia" by Norman Della Joio. The chorale will be accompanied by a special 16- member brass, percussion and piano ensemble. Oregon East Symphony is comprised of some 58 musicians from all over eastern Oregon and includes four members from Heppner—Matt Jepsen. string Local Oregon East Symphony players (left to right): Matt Jepsen, bass; Laura McElligott, cello: Kathryn Unruh and Delanne Ferguson, violins: and R. Lee Friese, music director and conductor. bass; Laura McElligott, cello; and Kathryn Unruh and Delanne Ferguson, violins. Music director and conductor of the group is R Lee Friese of Athena. Everyone is invited to attend this special music opportunity. Seating is available on a first- come basis, so people should plan to arrive early. BMCC event planned Nov. 25 The public is invited to attend Blue M ountain Comm unity C ollege’s “Evening with the President," on Tuesday, Nov. 25. at the home of Louie and Betty Carlson, 625 S. Chase St., Hepp ner, from 5:30-7 p.m. Dr. Nikki Harrington, president of BMCC, will have a presenta- tion at 6 p.m. This event is co-hosted by the Heppner Chamber of Commerce, BMCC and the BMCC Founda tion to celebrate BMCC’s 35 years of service to Umatilla and Morrow counties. For more infor mation, call 278-5935 or 422- 7040.
