For the past week, Bend girls volleyball players have had an important reminder that the sport they play is just a game after all.
In the wake of the Silver Rail Elementary school shooting, athletics in Bend were canceled last week, but have returned this week, including a big Intermountain Conference matchup Saturday, Oct. 24 between No. 2 Bend and No. 5 Summit.
The girls are excited to get back on the court, but they’ll do it this time with a greater perspective on what it means to be a team and to be a part of the greater Bend community.
“We had some girls that were directly affected. We had some girls that were further away from it,” Bend head coach Kristin Cooper said of the team’s response to the tragedy. “Just teaching them and helping them on how to know each other's feelings and what everybody needed at that time and support. And I think that it's that way with the community, also.
“I also think that sports can be healing. It brings people together, gives people things to rally around, and so I think it's been really good for us to be back. … They did a great job getting together every day as a team and talking, having hot chocolate, going for walks, doing that sort of stuff.”
The Lava Bears are enjoying another stellar season at 20-3 overall and 10-0 in the IMC. A win over the Storm on Saturday inside the Caldera High School would secure the league title for Bend.
The two teams played back on Sept. 24 where Bend took the first two sets, dropped the third and took the fourth and the 3-1 win.
In the nine other IMC matches Bend has played, they’ve only dropped one more set and that was back on Sept. 10 in the league opener against Caldera.
“Each team (in league) has been able to give us something new, whether it's an amazing defensive team that might not have as strong an offense, but they keep the ball coming back on us, so it's us being able to be patient, stay disciplined,” Cooper said. “Or someone like Summit who runs a quicker offense and is bigger and throws up a bigger block. We get to work on spreading our offense more and creating holes in the block. And these girls, at each game, have set their goals and then I sit and I listen. And I've been really proud of them.”
Bend was a young team last year with three freshmen playing critical roles who have all been back as sophomores this year in setter Lucy O’Connell, outside hitter Kailyn Cooper and middle blocker Riley Isfeld.
Despite the youth, the Lava Bears went all the way to the 5A state title match before falling to South Albany in straight sets.
Specifically for O’Connell, a year under her belt building chemistry with her teammates has allowed Cooper to trust the sophomore more this year in their 5-1 offense and the setter has flourished.
“Last year we were bouncing around and (O’Connell) came in this year knowing she was going to run it,” Kristin Cooper said. “And then having Riley Isfeld, a really strong middle, being able to run slides and As and quick sets right from the get-go has been really helpful. So yeah, being able to do more with our offense this year, last year we were kind of staying pretty basic.”
The freshmen group weren’t alone in getting used to the system as senior Brooklyn Fobi came in as a junior after the family moved out east to Bend from Vancouver, Washington.
Immediately the strong hitter made an impact for the Lava Bears as an all-around player and the team’s leader in kills.
“Being able to coach (Fobi) for a year and then her being able to come in now as a senior and be a leader, she's really helped kind of bring the team together,” Kristin Cooper said. “Those three freshmen that saw a lot of court time last year now have a year under their belts, so a year of experience. Nothing new anymore, they've been there before, so they're playing with a lot more confidence on the court and they know the expectations going into the postseason.”
The postseason is obviously important, but if the past week has taught anything to the Bend team, it’s that it isn’t the end of the world either.
No matter how the next few weeks shake out, the past week has shown Cooper and the whole community what really matters most when the matches end.
“It's hard being off for a week because I feel like we had just kind of overcome one more hurdle, and we were getting to our next step where we wanted to be kind of going into the postseason at the end of the season, and then it certainly pumped the brakes for us, but it also puts a lot of things into perspective,” Kristin Cooper said. “I sit back sometimes and I’m like, ‘It’s just volleyball.’”
Bend is no stranger to the postseason as it has been to five title matches, all coming in the past 10 years with two titles in 2016 and 2017.
But the Lava Bears certainly have felt heartbreak with the last three final appearances all ending with a loss in 2022, 2023 and 2025.
Currently sitting at No. 2 in the OSAA rankings, Bend will be one of the favorites to get back to that title game, and the scary part for opponents is that they’ll be even more ready for the high-stakes inside Central High School this time around.
“We always coach trying to take it step by step, but you also have that end goal in sight,” Kristin Cooper said. “They also realize there's a whole lot of work going into that. A lot of the other teams that we've seen and played, they may have had injuries earlier on in the season, and they're coming back stronger. We don't get to see all those teams the way they see each other in league play, so there's a little bit of unknown. So we just keep driving to get better ourselves and scout as much as we can to keep ourselves ready to go against what we're going to see.
More girls volleyball notes
The 6A girls volleyball regular season has already concluded with play-in matches all set for Saturday, Oct. 24 under the new postseason system. Twenty four teams make the state playoffs with 16 already advanced, including top seed and three-time defending champion Jesuit (22-4, 10-0 Metro).
The winners of each of the eight play-in games advance to the state playoffs and will take on seeds No. 9-16. The eight play-in matches are as follows:
No. 16 Tualatin at No. 1 Sherwood
No. 15 Newberg at No. 2 Barlow
No. 14 McDaniel at No. 3 Lake Oswego
No. 13 Clackamas at No. 4 Lakeridge
No. 12 Ida B. Wells at No. 5 West Salem
No. 11 South Medford at No. 6 Franklin
No. 10 Roosevelt at No. 7 Sunset
No. 9 McNary at No. 8 North Medford
In small school action, 3A No. 1 Burns finished with a 10-0 league mark and awaits an opponent in the Eastern Oregon district tournament. The Hilanders made the 2024 state title match and have eight state titles in program history, tied for the fourth most in Oregon history.
No. 2 Dayton went 7-1 in West Valley League, dropping a five-setter to Santiam Christian. The Pirates got revenge on Oct. 13 to split the regular season crown and the two will play again for the district tournament title at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24 at Dayton.
No. 3 Catlin Gabel, No. 6 Westside Christian, No. 5 Creswell, No. 8 Coquille and Scio are your other 3A league winners for the regular season as they all await opponents for district titles, except Coquille. Scio will play Salem Academy for the PacWest crown.
In 2A, Crane has moved up after winning the 1A state title the past three years, and the No. 1 Mustangs haven’t missed a beat at 20-4 overall and a perfect 12-0 mark in the Wapiti League. They are waiting for an opponent in the district tournament played in La Grande on Friday, Oct. 23.
That opponent could be No. 2 Imbler, who finished the regular season 19-5 and 10-2 in league, the only two losses coming in four sets both times to Crane. The two sides met last year in the 1A state title game.
Defending champion No. 5 Crosshill Christian went 14-0 in the Valley Coast Conference and 17-2 overall, and the Eagles are also awaiting an opponent in the district tournament.
No. 3 Heppner and No. 4 Myrtle Point won their respective leagues, along with No. 6 Clatskanie, Portland Christian, No. 9 St. Paul and No. 10 Culver.
No. 1 Central Christian are leading the pack in 1A after going 8-0 in the Mountain Valley League and will play No. 3 North Lake for the district title at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 24. The Tigers won the two league matchups 3-1 and 3-0.
No. 2 Dufur is another title contender after going 12-0 in the Big Sky League and 18-3 overall. The Rangers play Spray/Mitchell/Wheeler next in the district tournament on Saturday.
No. 4 Damascus Christian, who are the last team to win the 1A title before Crane’s three-year run, are back and stronger than ever at 19-3 overall and 10-0 in the Valley 10 League.
Other regular season league winners include Perrydale, Mohawk, No. 8 Umpqua Valley Christian, No. 5 Joseph and Prairie City.
Moving up to 5A and 4A, the regular season still rolls on into next week, but there’s plenty of important action.
In 5A, No. 1 Crescent Valley took out two-time defending state champion No. 3 South Albany twice in league, the first being a sweep on Sept. 17 and the second in five sets on Oct. 13.
No. 4 West Albany has also helped make the Mid-Willamette Conference possibly the toughest league in 5A.
Co-No. 10 Centennial and Sandy split matches in the Northwest Oregon Conference and they post sit at 11-1 with league play over.
No. 7 Wilsonville has a big final match against La Salle Prep with the Wildcats up one game in the league standings. That match is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27.
No. 8 Crater has wrapped up the win in the hybrid Southern Oregon Conference with an 11-1 record. No. 9 North Eugene has done the same in the hybrid Midwestern League at 8-4 in league play, only behind 6A opponents South Eugene and Sheldon.
No. 1 Valley Catholic has dominated on its move up to 4A at 24-2 overall and 9-0 in the Cowapa League with one league match to go.
No. 2 Marist Catholic has been similarly dominant at 23-2 overall and 12-0 in the Sky Em League.
No. 3 Stayton has one match left with Philomath and can wrap up the Oregon West Conference title with a win.
No. 5 Cascade Christian made the move to 4A as well and controlled the Skyline Conference with an 11-0 record. The Challengers play North Valley to close out the regular season.
Pendleton has secured the Greater Oregon League title as well at 8-0 with one match left against second-place Baker.
austinw@osaa.org
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