LA GRANDE — Fifth-ranked Weston-McEwen drew the short straw in the 2A state quarterfinals, matching up with 2025 1A state champion Crane, which held on for a 25-21, 25-21, 25-13 win Friday at La Grande High School to reach the semifinals.
“Tough loss to start the tournament,” W-M coach Marie Cain said. “I’m proud of the girls for sticking together and playing hard. Bree (Perkins) played good defense today against a strong offense. Proud of her grit.”
After playing right with the fourth-ranked Mustangs (23-5) the first two sets, the TigerScots (17-6) wilted a little in the third set and could not keep pace with the Mustangs.
Charlotte Hansell led Weston-McEwen with 14 kills, seven digs and one block, while Addy Hall had 20 assists, 11 digs and two kills, Regan Pickard two kills and two blocks, and Perkins 21 digs.
“Char did a good job on offense finding ways to get kills,” Cain said. “We are taking some things from the match and will be ready to play Saturday morning.”
Weston-McEwen will play St. Paul in a loser-out consolation game at 9 a.m. Saturday.
4A tournament
VALLEY CATHOLIC 3, PENDLETON 0 — The top-ranked Valiants cruised to a win in the first set, then had to hold off the Bucks down the stretch for a 25-8, 25-19, 25-19 victory in the 4A state quarterfinals at North Bend High School.
“We started off a little slow, but picked up our level of play and competed better each set,” Pendleton coach Jodi Primus said. “We were back and forth the third set and competed better.”
Pendleton (18-10) will play Cascade Christian in a loser-out consolation game at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Pendleton had an early lead of 4-2 in the second set, and played point for point with Valley Catholic, forging ties of 12-12 and 15-15 before the Valiants (29-2) took the lead for good.
Maeve Albert had six kills in the second set for the Valiants.
“Their No. 12 (Albert) was just really hard to stop,” Primus said. “I’m proud of how the girls stepped up as the match went on and didn’t fold under pressure.”
MJ Gomez had seven of her 17 kills in the second set for the Bucks. She also had seven digs. Caitlin Cooley had 28 assists, seven digs and three aces for Pendleton, while Kelsi Primus had seven kills and a 1.9/2 serve receive average, McKinley Moore 11 digs and a 2.2/3 serve receive average, Kalia Ward three kills and three block assists, Braelyn Gunter three kills and was 10-for-10 from the the service line, Olivia Allen was 8 of 8 from the service line, McKinley Lieuallen four digs and a 1.6/3 serve receive average, and Ari Banica had five digs ad a 1.75/3 serve receive average.
