Mt. Hood advances to the Northwest quarterfinals with sweep over Bulldogs

The Mt. Hood CC volleyball team turned back and early challenge from Bellevue to sweep the Bulldogs 25-22, 25-18, 25-19 in the second round of the Northwest championships Friday afternoon.

The Saints recovered from a four-point deficit in the first set, using back-to-back blocks by Charlene Manning and Kaycie Kitzmiller to move ahead 16-14 midway through the opening game.

Maycie Abenschein and Keely Siegel combined on another block on the right side, watching the ball spin off their hands and find a hole in front of the Bellevue bench to widen the gap to 22-19 and prompt the Bulldogs to call time out.

Bellevue put up a fight at set point. Mt. Hood’s Tori Kemper fired a blast into the middle only to see two Bulldogs swing fists at the ball to keep it in the air. Kemper came again with an attempt down the sideline that sent another pair of Bulldogs diving to the floor to keep the point alive.

The rally finally ended when Manning closed out a block on the right side.

The Saints never trailed in either of the last two sets and advance to face East Region champ Blue Mountain in tonight’s quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m.

Blue Mountain swept South runner-up Umpqua in its second-round matchup.

Look for extended second round coverage in the Tuesday, Nov. 20, edition of The Outlook.

View a photo gallery of Friday’s win over Bellevue at …

http://daveball.exposuremanager.com/g/nov16mhcc_volleyball