Posted Sunday September 21, 2008

HERMISTON - The Hermiston Bulldogs beat the La Grande Tigers 3-1 Friday afternoon in non-conference volleyball action. The scoring was 20-25, 25-23, 25-13 and 25-19.

The two teams exchanged leads from the start of the first set. Hermiston took the opening points of the game 3-1 while Marie Pedro was serving. Then La Grande went on a five point run while Maggie Yeates was serving to take a 5-3 lead. Hermiston battled back to tie it at 11 all then stretched to a 13-11 lead on an ace by Amanda Bevington. La Grande tied it up at 14-14 and held on to the lead through the end of the game for the 25-20 win over the Dawgs.

Game two was close with La Grande taking an early lead until the teams tied up at 4-4. Hermiston doing some nice work at the net took the lead out to 14-9. La Grande tightened things up by evening the Dawgs 20-20. The teams battled for every point with the teams sitting at 24-21 game point for Hermiston but Shelby Hasse serving for the Tigers closed to 23-24. Hermiston took the defensive point for the 25-23 win.

The third game was close in the opening minutes with Hermiston leading 4-3. Mary Shae Hayes then made a run of serve giving Hermiston an 8-3 lead. When the serve rotated to Amanda Bevington she took the Dawgs from at from a close 10-8 to a 19-9 dominating lead. Bevington's run of service including an ace. The Dawgs only allowed the Tigers four more points over the course of the rest of the game. Hannah Whitsett closed out serving for the Dawgs in a 25-13 win.

La Grande came roaring out of the blocks in the fourth game with a 6-1 run of serve by Allie Trotter. It took several rotations until Hermiston was able to tie it up 11-11. The teams swapped leads during some long volleys until the Dawgs took the lead at 19-18. It was anyone's game to win when Kayleigh Barnitz began serving at 19-21. The Dawgs came together and dominated closing minutes of the game with Barnitz serving the team to a 25-19 win.

Photos by Terry Aichele