VOLLEYBALL

Ravens roll at Rogue Valley — Class 5A Ridgeview swept past three 6A teams in bracket play Saturday and won the championship at the Rogue Valley Classic in Medford. After beating Grants Pass (25-19, 27-25), the Ravens downed previously undefeated Bend High (25-23, 25-17) to avenge their only loss so far this season. Ridgeview then beat host North Medford (25-18, 25-18) for the title. Leading the way for the Ravens were Rylee Troutman (66 kills, 55 digs, eight aces), Kennedy Buckner (53 assists, 28 digs, 22 kills, five aces), Ally Henry (52 digs, four aces), Jackie Vaughn (17 kills, six aces) and Allicite Frost (71 assists).

No ride, no match for Storm — Summit’s Mountain Valley Conference match at McKay last Thursday was postponed because the Storm could not find a ride to Salem. Mike Carpenter, the Summit athletic director, noted that a number of Bend-La Pine Schools bus drivers have recently quit. “That’s one of the reasons we have to take charter buses to contests because we don’t have enough drivers to take our kids out of town,” Carpenter said in an email to The Bulletin. He also said the school district’s driver shortage “has been a problem for the past few years.” A charter could not be arranged Thursday for the volleyball team, so that match has been rescheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, at McKay High School.

Big day for Gilchrist setter — Gilchrist won a few and lost a few Saturday at the Crook County JV Invitational tournament in Prineville, and Katie McDaniel was all over the court for the Grizzlies. The junior, in her third season as varsity setter, recorded a whopping 180 assists over six matches in pool and bracket play. “Absolutely crazy,” said Gilchrist coach Candice Roseberry. “She ran her butt off today.”

Cougars’ Heinrick breaking records — Mountain View senior Brooklyn Heinrick, a four-year varsity starter for the Cougars, broke the school’s single-match digs record against McKay last Tuesday with 25. It was Heinrick’s second record-breaking performance of her career, according to coach Kate Hunter. The first came in her freshman year, Hunter said, when Heinrick set the program’s single-match assists record with 55. “I’m very proud of her and her leadership,” Hunter said of Heinrick. “Her defensive play inspires those around her to play harder.”

CROSS-COUNTRY

Storm girls set the pace at NW Classic — Fiona Max was the overall winner and one of five Summit runners to finish in the top 10 in the girls 6A/5A race at the Northwest Classic meet Saturday in Eugene. Max’s winning time over the 5,000-meter Lane Community College course was 17 minutes, 31.3 seconds. Also scoring for the Storm were Teaghan Knox (fourth place), Kelsey Gripekoven (sixth), Azza Borovicka Swanson (ninth) and Stella Skovborg (10th). Summit tallied 30 points to win handily over runner-up Lincoln, with 82. At the same meet, Bend High’s Bennet Jackson finished third in the 6A/5A boys race, and Sisters’ John Peckham finished third in the 4A/3A/2A/1A boys race.

Two Sisters runners finish second — Showing some good early-season form, John Peckham and Kate Bowen, both of Sisters, each finished second on Thursday in the competitive Husky Invitational at Sweet Home. Peckham finished in 17 minutes, 17.9 seconds in the 5,000-meter race, leading the Sisters boys to a sixth-place finish in the 11-team meet. He was nine seconds behind winner Jedaiah Wasson of East Linn Christian. Bowen finished in 20:31.6 in the girls race, leading the Outlaws to a fifth-place finish. Hannah Hernandez of Philomath won the girls race in 19:41.8.

FOOTBALL

Gamble pays for Lava Bears — After matching North Medford’s overtime touchdown Friday night, Bend High took matters into its own hands with the make-or-break decision to try a two-point conversion. Quarterback Cooper Simmonds, whose 21-yard TD pass to Tysen Scott had gotten Bend within 28-27, sprinted to his right and passed to fullback Kyle Reed for the two-point catch and a 29-28 nonleague win. “We were holding on for dear life defensively,” said Lava Bears coach Matt Craven of the choice to go for two instead of kick for one point and likely extend the game to a second overtime. Bend had trouble all night stopping North Medford’s Elias Spence, a 6-foot-5, 217-pound running back who rushed for three touchdowns and more than 200 yards. “I liked our chances of getting 3 yards on a two-point conversion better than our chances of stopping that kid (in another overtime),” Craven said. “It was a calculated risk, and we thought that was our best chance.” It worked, and now the Lava Bears are 2-1 going into this Friday’s home game against Roseburg.

Summit, Culver get first wins — With the help of some stellar special teams play, the Storm got their first win of the season Friday night with a 53-39 nonleague home victory over Newberg. Campbell Smith returned two kickoffs for touchdowns for Summit (95 and 89 yards). Quarterback Henry Bledsoe was 12-for-21 passing for 164 yards and two touchdowns, and he also ran for two TDs. He spread the ball around to seven different receivers, including Smith, who caught a 63-yard touchdown pass to give the Storm a commanding 47-26 lead in the third quarter. Magnus Schmidt rushed for 119 yards and two TDs for Summit (1-2). Culver also won for the first time this season, as juniors Justyce Loredo, Zach Wiseman and Anthony Hood led the Bulldogs to a 46-7 Class 2A Special District 2 victory at Gervais. Loredo rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown, Wiseman rushed for 75 yards and two TDs, and Hood had a 37-yard interception return for a touchdown as Culver (1-2) won its league opener.

SOFTBALL

New Summit AD is a familiar face — Mike Carpenter, an original coach at Summit where he started the softball program, is the high school’s new athletic director. Carpenter was the varsity softball coach at Summit when it opened in 2001. He coached the Storm every year but 2011, when he served as a volunteer assistant at Mountain View, where his stepdaughter was a senior on the softball team. That same school year, he started coaching freshman girls basketball at Summit, a position he held for eight years. He returned to Summit softball in 2012 as the JV coach, then resumed as varsity coach in 2013. In all, Carpenter figures he has coached more than 600 games at Summit. As for the AD job? “It’s definitely a big change,” he said. “I really didn’t know what I was getting into, but it’s been fun so far.” Carpenter noted that with his absence from coaching for the first time in a total of 28 years, track and field coach Dave Turnbull is the last original coach at Summit High.

— From staff reports

Prep Notebook will appear on Tuesdays throughout the high school year. Suggestions for notebook items are wecome at sports@bendbulletin.com.