Baker's Kane Hellberg runs against La Grande's Hunter McCall in a league match on Oct. 1, 2024.

Baker’s boys and girls soccer teams traveled to La Grande Tuesday, Oct. 22, for Greater Oregon League games, and the Tigers prevailed in both.

La Grande beat the Baker boys, 2-0.

The Tigers won the girls match, 7-0.

In the nonleague volleyball match, the Class 3A sixth-ranked Hilanders swept Baker.

Boys soccer

Despite the loss, which avenged Baker’s 4-3 win over La Grande on Oct. 1 at the Baker Sports Complex, the Bulldogs remain alone in second place in the GOL behind Ontario (5-0). La Grande is third at 2-3. Pendleton is fourth at 0-5.

Baker, 6-6 overall and 3-2 in league play, concludes its regular season by traveling to Ontario on Tuesday, Oct. 29, for a 4 p.m. PDT match.

Girls soccer

The Tigers showed why they’re the second-ranked Class 4A girls team, improving to 5-0 in GOL play (10-1-1) overall. Baker is 0-4-1 in league play, 3-7-1 overall. 

The Bulldogs wrap up their regular season on Monday, Oct. 28, against Ontario at the Baker Sports Complex. The match is set for 6 p.m.

Volleyball

First set

Baker stayed close to the Hilanders, never trailing by more than six points. Baker led 5-4 and forged ties at 6, 7 and 8 before Burns took the lead for good with a 3-0 run to go ahead 11-8.

Three times Baker cut four-point leads in half, the last time at 18-16. But Burns’ tough serves gave Baker trouble throughout and the Hilanders won the set 25-18.

Second set

After ties at 3, 5 and 6, Baker surged ahead with a 5-1 run that included Taylor Churchfield’s ace serve. Baker extended the lead to 12-7 when libero Lilly Wilson dug a powerful hit and Lexi Rupel converted the dig into a kill. Jaxyn Ramos had a kill and Sofia Hanson had consecutive ace serves to put Baker ahead 15-8 and prompt a Burns timeout. 

Baker continued to lead, going up 18-11, but Burns rallied with a 4-0 run that led Baker coach Ali Woodward to call timeout. But the intermission didn’t slow Burns’ Akylah Kaino, who had several kills during an 8-0 Hilander streak that gave Burns the lead at 19-18. Baker tied it at 19 and 20, but Burns closed out the set with five straight points to win 25-20.

Third set

Burns, which didn’t lose a set in its previous five matches, never trailed in the final set, although Baker was as close as 8-7. The Hilanders then went on a 10-4 run to take control. They finished the sweep with a 25-13 win.

Up next

Baker concludes its regular season by playing host to Ontario on Thursday, Oct. 24, at 6:30 p.m. The Bulldogs then will wait to find out their opponent in a Class 4A play-in match. Baker likely will have to travel for the match. The winner will advance to the 16-team playoffs. The winners of playoff games will advance to the state tournament Nov. 8-9 at North Bend High School.