The La Grande Tigers shook off a rough first set to earn a season-opening victory over Vale on the road Thursday, 17-25, 25-23, 25-14, 26-24.

“We had a good night. We battled through some adversity of not performing as well in that Game 1,” head coach Melinda Becker-Bisenius said.

The coach said LHS had to make an early adjustment on defense, and executed the change well.

“Sometimes it’s hard to make some game-time changes. They were trying to tip over our block, so we had to make some adjustments with covering the tips,” the coach said.

Kenzie Williams had a strong all-around match with 15 digs and added 12 assists and four kills. Jayce Seavert led the offense with 11 kills and pitched in with 14 digs. Jaiden Hafer added seven kills, Felicity Houston had 13 digs and Presley Justice tallied 15 digs, four kills and three aces.

La Grande (1-0 overall) hosts the Hanna Cashell Memorial Tournament on Saturday.

Cougars open with three victories

The Wallowa Cougars opened the season with three victories at the McLoughlin Tournament Thursday, sweeping the host Pioneers (25-16, 25-18), Umatilla (25-8, 25-13) and Enterprise (25-10, 25-14) in best-of-three matches.

“I feel very confident in their play today. The biggest thing I have to say is they played as a team,” head coach Janea Hulse said. “If they made a mistake they were lift each other up….At this point in years past we weren’t at the team level yet. It’s encouraging to see where they are at right now.”

Jamie Johnston tallied seven kills, nine digs and three blocks against Mac-Hi. ShannaRae Tillery had six kills, 11 digs and five aces in the win and Ashlyn Young added 14 assists and four aces.

In the win over Umatilla Johnston had six kills, 17 digs and four blocks. Tillery added 16 digs, six aces and five kills and Ella Moeller recorded 18 digs and three aces.

In the finale Johnston was solid in all facets of the game with 11 kills, 18 digs and six blocks. Tillery had 12 kills and 13 digs and three aces, and Bailey Hafer added three aces.

The Cougars (3-0 overall) return to action Sept. 7 at The Cat Clash in Echo.

Badgers win pair of opening matches

The Powder Valley Badgers opened the 2019 regular season with a pair of victories at the 1A season preview tournament at Country Christian High School in Molalla Thursday, defeating McKenzie 25-7, 25-6, 25-9 and Crane 25-13, 25-9, 24-26, 25-9.

“They were super excited, (though) nervous in the beginning of the first game,” head coach Marji Lind said. “They worked hard (in the) preseason. It was good to get out on the court in a game station. They did a great job. It was a great first day.”

Stats were not provided.

The Badgers (2-0 overall) continued play in Molalla today with three more matches on the slate.

Elgin goes 2-1 at Mac-Hi

Elgin opened the season with two victories at the McLoughlin Tournament, beating both Mac-Hi and Umatilla before losing to Enterprise in three sets.

“I was thrilled with today,” head coach Tiana Murphey said. “I was ecstatic with how the girls worked together (and) came together to overcome any obstacles that got in their way. They really focused and just have a wonder mindset and work ethic.”

The Huskies eked out a close 25-22, 25-20 win over Mac-Hi, behind two kills from Jayden Palmer and a strong defensive effort. Both Tymra Anderson and Madison Harvey had nine digs. Palmer also had four assists and Anderson added four aces.

In their 25-8, 25-18 win over Umatilla, Shelby Sannar had two kills, two aces and two blocks.

Elgin wrapped up with a 25-17, 10-25, 25-10 loss to Enterprise. Kaelin Evans had three kills and nine digs, Palmer had five assists and two blocks, and Anderson had seven aces.

“They really stepped up and made significant improvement over last year just in the last two weeks,” Murphey said.

Elgin (2-1 overall) next plays at the Stanfield Tournament Sept. 7.

Eagles open with two losses

The Joseph Eagles dropped a pair of season-opening matches to Perrydale and Echo at the 1A season preview tournament at Country Christian High School in Molalla Thursday. Joseph lost to Perrydale in four set, and dropped a five-set marathon to Echo, 25-20, 25-17, 21-25, 26-28, 17-15.

Set scores for the Perrydale match, as well as stats, were not available.

The Eagles (0-2 overall) continue play in Molalla today with three more matches on the schedule.

Panthers drop two to open season

The Imbler Panthers opened with a pair of losses at the Weston-McEwen three-way match Thursday, losing to Dufur 25-19, 25-23, 25-23, and to Weston-McEwen 25-19, 25-11, 25-18.

Stats were not available.

Imbler (0-2 overall) next plays at the Hanna Cashell Memorial Tournament in La Grande Saturday.

Enterprise goes 2-1 to open season

Enterprise went 2-1 at the McLoughlin tournament to open 2019, defeating Mac-Hi 25-12, 20-25, 15-8 and Elgin 25-17, 10-25, 15-10, but losing to Wallowa 25-10, 25-14.

Stats were not available.

The Outlaws (2-1 overall) play at the Grant Union Tournament Saturday.