Volleyball faces tough competition

The Lady Outlaws came face-to-face against their toughest competition of the season at the Clearwater Classic, hosted by Bend High School, on Saturday, October 11. Teams played at three different venues; Bend High, Summit and Mountain View.

Jesuit, the top ranked team at the 6A level, was in attendance, as well as No. 2 ranked Central Catholic (6A) Many other top 5A and 6A teams from around the state were in attendance. The only two 4A teams that competed were Sisters and Crook County.

Jesuit was crowned tournament champions, and Central Catholic was runner-up.

Sisters hasn't had much competition in league, and this tournament matched them up with much quicker and more powerful squads.

In pool play, the Outlaws defeated North Medford 25-19, 25-19, beat Summit 25-22, 25-17, finished with a win over West Linn with scores of 25-12, 25-23.

"We didn't play very well against Summit, but we squeaked it out," said Coach Miki McFadden. "By the time we played West Linn we started to rise to the occasion and played a good match."

In the first match of bracket play, the Outlaws came up against top-ranked Central Catholic. Sisters lost in a quick match, 25-13, 25-14, and were out of the tournament.

McFadden said, "All the girls on Central Catholic are very strong. They were great blockers and served areas very well. The game was very fast with quick plays and they had us off-balance the entire match.

"It was really good for us to play at that level," added McFadden. "We need to pick up our game at this point in the season and this was a great tournament to do that."