The Bulldogs honored football seniors (from left) Nick Kubishta, Ruben Moreno, Logan Johnson and Dallton Dewey before the start of Friday’s Senior Night game against Jefferson. GINI DAVIS/THE CHRONICLE
VOLLEYBALL
Match: at OSAA 3A State Championships, Forest Grove HS
Third-ranked Creswell will take on seventh-ranked Burns in the 3A state quarterfinals on Court 1 at 3:15 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8 at Forest Grove HS, with other games to follow based on the outcome.
What2Watch: Creswell is taking these playoffs so seriously that it’s even revamping its offense. ”We switched to a new lineup a couple of weeks ago and it’s made us even stronger and even faster,” coach Anna Baltrusch said. Having two outside hitters, Breanna Dapron and Kylee Whitson, seems to have found a magical touch with this team. ”My girls seem to think it’s like Dumbo’s magic feather; it’s their magic lineup,” Baltrusch said.
Who2Watch: Burns’ outside hitter Allie Hueckman earned All-Eastern Oregon League honors and had almost 500 digs last season; with teammate and fellow hitter Kaitlyn Wright they are a pair to watch. They will be matched by Creswell’s trio of hitters: Dapron, Whitson and Sarah Lanz. ”They play a lot like we do,” Baltrusch said of Burns. ”They’re fast, strong and have great defense. We’re going to have to have total ball control and perfect defense to win this game.” Burns’ head coach, Paula Toney is going on her 11th season, making her a seasoned coach, so frazzled is one thing you won’t see out of Burns. ”She’s an experienced coach with a great program. That always makes teams more dangerous,” Baltrusch said.
Notable: The Bulldogs have been up to Forest Grove for the state championships four of the past five years that the high school has hosted the event. With two consecutive seasons ending with a loss in the championship game (2015, 2016), the Bulldogs are ready to go undefeated at Forest Grove. ”We’ve been up to Forest Grove quite a few times. We’ve had some wins and we’ve had some losses,” Baltrusch said. ”We don’t mind playing there. It’s definitely not the same as playing at LCC with that home crowd, though.”
CROSS COUNTRY
Meet: 3A/2A/1A OSAA State Championships, Lane Community College, 11 a.m.
What2Watch: Watch in-person at the local site or live online and get real-time results at live.athletictiming.net. Text updates also are available. The fastest time recorded on this course was 14:45.0.
Who2Watch: The CHS boys’ cross country team will be competing as individuals but also as a team after they took second in districts last week. Brandon Moehlmann leads the boys’ team with a time of 17:14.9 on this course last Tuesday. Last year at the State Championships, Moehlmann’s time was 18:43.0, making this year’s time already a vast improvement. Josiah Lee is also running for the Bulldogs and finished fifth overall last week.
– Compiled by Jordan Lampe