By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

The Burns Hilanders laid claim to the first place trophy by defeating Cascade Christian 28-26, 25-23 in the championship match of  the Burns Invitational volleyball tournament on Saturday, Sept. 6.

The win over the Challengers capped off an undefeated day for the Hilanders  as they rolled through both pool and bracket play without losing a game.

Burns began pool play with a 25-9, 25-13 win over the Nyssa Bulldogs. They then downed the Challengers 25-18, 25-23, and topped Ontario 25-10, 25-6.

In the first round of bracket play, the Hilanders defeated Vale 25-14, 25-10 to move into the semi-finals.

Burns then beat Madras 25-19, 25-9 to set up the rematch with Cascade Christian in the finals.

For the tournament, the Hilanders’ Courtney Toney recorded 48 kills, 16 aces, 24 digs and seven blocks; Mattea Zabala finished with 53 kills, two aces, 24 digs and 11 blocks; Jessica Wheeler eight blocks, 30 kills and eight aces; Jamie Higle 10 kills, 63 assists and six  digs; Maddye Dinsmore eight kills, 27 digs and 10 aces; Kaci Nonnenmacher 68 assists, seven digs and seven aces; Taylor Lee five kills, two assists; Erin Swindlehurst one kill and two assists; Teri McConnell 18 digs.

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Fresh off of winning the Pendleton Invitational, the Burns volleyball team picked up another win by knocking off La Pine in three games, 25-10, 25-13, 25-8, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at Burns High School.

Toney paced the Hilander offense, recording 11 kills, six aces and six digs.  Wheeler finished with seven kills, three aces, two digs and two blocks; Zabala six kills, two aces and 100 percent serve receive; Higle three kills, six aces, four assists and two digs; Nonnenmacher nine assists, three digs and one ace.

“So far, we’ve been working to find a lineup to fill some voids from last year,” Burns coach Paula Toney said. “Mattea is seeing some limited time to heal a quad muscle strain, and Ashley Schouviller out with a broken leg suffered at Pendleton, has created some changes as well.”

The Burns JV team beat La Pine in two games, 25-9, 25-10, and the Hilander Frosh/Soph team won as well (scores unavailable).