Mt. Hood dispatches Whatcom and Pierce in Fridays opening session

The Mt. Hood CC volleyball team ran into no trouble during Friday’s pool-play action at its host Dorian Harris tournament.

The Saints swept past Pierce 25-12, 25-15, 25-14 to claim the top seed out of its three-team pool.

Mt. Hood won most of the hustle points in the match, highlighted late in the second set when Anna Vieru dived out of the back row for a one-armed save and teammate Kaycie Kitzmiller followed with a somersault roll to keep the ball up.

With the defense scrambled, Pierce sent an attack to the end line only to see Mt. Hood’s Kelsey Merritt chase it down and make a clean pass into the front. That set up Tori Kemper for a heavy blast that banged off the arms of a Pierce player and carried out of bounds.

Point Saints.

Mt. Hood also knocked off Whatcom in straight sets to open the tournament. The Saints claimed four sets by double-digit margins for the day.

Mt. Hood opens Saturday’s bracket play at 11 a.m., needing two wins to reach the championship match at 4:30 p.m.

Look for extended tournament coverage in the Tuesday, Oct. 30, edition of The Outlook.

View a photo gallery from Friday’s win over Pierce at …

http://daveball.exposuremanager.com/g/oct26_mthoodcc_vball