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Crook County’s Caleb Decker, left, tries to block a spike from Summit’s Anand Groves, during the Summit-Crook County volleyball match at Summit High in Bend Monday afternoon. 4-28-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Summit’s 3Edward Archer, left, bumps the ball to return a serve while Summit’s Beckett White watches on during the Summit-Crook County volleyball match at Summit High in Bend Monday afternoon. 4-28-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Crook County’s Hoyt Kudlac, left, attempts to block a spike from Summit’s Beckett White, during the Summit-Crook County volleyball match at Summit High in Bend Monday afternoon. 4-28-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Summit’s Anand Groves, and, Aiden Woods, from left, try unsuccessfully to block a spike from during Crook County’s Bryce Lowenbach, the Summit-Crook County volleyball match at Summit High in Bend Monday afternoon. 4-28-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Summit’s Ian Mylne, left, keeps his eye on the ball while spiking past a Crook County defender during the Summit-Crook County volleyball match at Summit High in Bend Monday afternoon. 4-28-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Crook County’s, Todd Teskey, left, bumps returns a serve while his team mate Isaac Ritter watches on during the Summit-Crook County volleyball match at Summit High in Bend Monday afternoon. 4-28-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Summit reacts after winning the second game during the Summit-Crook County volleyball match at Summit High in Bend Monday afternoon. 4-28-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

One of the main differences between the first and second year of high school boys volleyball in Oregon is in the eyes of Summit’s Gavin White.

White can’t remember a single set during the high school season a year ago en route to a state title where the matches were competitive. This year, the competition level, he feels, has been raised.

“We haven’t had many close games except for this year,” said White, a junior setter. “I think it is good to see some better teams that are going to put up a fight.”

Monday evening two of the three Central Oregon boys volleyball teams squared off at Summit High. Summit rolled past Crook County in straight sets (25-8, 25-13, 26-24). The Storm have won eight of nine matches this spring, and have won 22 of the possible 26 sets.

But against the Cowboys, despite winning handily in the first two sets, the Storm found themselves in unfamiliar territory in the third set. They were in a major hole and needed to dig their way out to avoid dropping the set.

“They are working on meshing together as a team and keeping that excitement up,” said Crook County coach Mallory Hall of her team. “Because when they do, they play great.”

Crook County built a 13-5 lead midway through the set and had the set tied at 24 before the Storm were ultimately able to pull away. Being on the ropes, even for a set, isn’t something Summit was used to.

“We don’t have a lot of these situations in school volleyball,” said Summit sophomore Aiden Woods. “But we do in club volleyball.”

With boys volleyball being such a new sport at the high school level – the second year of its trial run as an “emerging activity” with the chance to be a fully-sanctioned sport by the Oregon Schools Activities Association next year – there is a high variance of skill level.

But perhaps it is to be expected with so many schools and the majority of the athletes giving the sport a try for the first time. Some teams have a core of players who play volleyball for a club, while others are starting from scratch trying to build and introduce a new sport.

That is the case for Crook County. When the program started a year ago, only one of its players had played volleyball competitively.

“The difference in skill for each player has been amazing,” Hall said. “Just seeing them come back from last year and realized where we started last year and seeing how well they have honed their skills has been really great to see as a coach.”

The Cowboy have put together a quality season, winning five of their eight matches with two of their losses coming to Summit.

There are four games remaining in the regular season and the Cowboys are hoping to get better in time for the eight-team Class 4A culminating event in late May.

“We are just hoping that they can continue to improve,” Hall said. “We don’t want them to plateau. We are going to keep practicing. I’m just hoping that they are able to make the improvements that they are hoping for.”

Brian Rathbone has been the sports reporter for the Bulletin since 2019. He likes playing basketball, running and spending time with his dog, Rodger.

He can be reached at 541-668-7538, brian.rathbone@bendbulletin.com, or on X/IG @ByBrianRathbone

More by Brian

SAN BRUNO, Calif. – LMU won its sixth straight West Coast Conference Championship last Friday in Santa Monica, Calif., and the Lions nearly pulled off a clean sweep of the 2025 West Coast Conference all-conference and major awards, as announced by the Conference on Wednesday.

LMU’s major awards include John Mayer winning Coach of the Year, Chloe Hooker winning Defensive Player of the Year, and the Pair of the Year went to Isabelle Reffel and Magdalena Rabitsch. LMU’s Tanon Rosenthal was named Co-Freshman of the Year with Pepperdine’s Emma Eden. 

All-conference honors and major individual awards were selected solely by the seven conference head coaches. 

 

Reffel and Rabitsch finished the 2025 campaign with an overall record of 35-4. Playing primarily on the No. 4 court, the tandem went 32-4 there and 3-0 on the third court. Going back to April 11, the pair is enjoying a 10-match winning streak, including three wins in last week’s West Coast Conference Tournament. Reffel and Rabitsch own three wins over UCLA this season and wins over Stanford and USC, as well. Reffel and Rabitsch won West Coast Conference Pair of the Week two times this season. 

 

Mayer collected his sixth straight West Coast Conference Coach of the Year honor after leading the Lions back into the NCAA Championship as a No. 4 seed. LMU concluded the regular season with a record of 35-6, and Mayer’s Lions enter the NCAA Tournament riding a seven-match winning streak. LMU boasts multiple wins over the top-ranked teams in the country according to the AVCA national polls including No. 1 TCU and No. 3 UCLA.  

The 2023 West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year, Hooker adds another Conference major award to her resume. Compiling a record of 28-10 on the courts this season, Hooker primarily teamed with Vilhelmiina Prihti on either the No. 1 or No. 2 court. She and Prihti garnered a win on April 11 over No. 1 TCU. Hooker also played on LMU’s second court with Jaeya Brach and Anna Pelloia. Hooker and Pelloia boasted Conference Pair of the Week accolades once in 2025. Hooker becomes the fifth straight Lion to claim this award. 

Rosenthal is the third Lion to capture West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year accolades, and the first since Hooker in 2023. Rosenthal boasted Conference Pair of the Week recognition three times this season, the most among the Lions who won all but one of the conference weekly awards this season. She totaled a record of 33-5 this season, playing primarily on the No. 5 court with Giuliana Poletti-Corrales. They will head to the NCAA Tournament having won their last eight matches in a row. 

 

Eden compiled an overall record of 25-8 this season. She competed primarily on the No. 3 court with Ella Foti, notching a record of 23-7 with her between the No. 2 and No. 3 courts. She also went 2-1 with Madison Oriskovich on the No. 2 court. Eden becomes the fourth Wave to win Freshman of the Year. Kaydon Myers won the award last season, while McKenna Thomas earned a share of the award in 2022 and Brook Bauer won it in 2018. 

The Lions and Pepperdine comprised the entire all-conference first team with seven Lions and three Waves being named to the all-conference first team. Three more Lions made the all-conference second team with Santa Clara matching that total on the second team, while Saint Mary’s picked up a pair of second-team selections. 

 

Pepperdine’s Kate Clermont and McKenna Thomas earned first-team accolades for the third straight season. Hooker garnered all-conference recognition for the third straight season, and she made her second appearance on the all-conference first team after also being named to that team as a freshman in 2023. Michelle Shaffer garnered first-team recognition for the third time, second time at LMU, after also being an honoree in 2022 with Santa Clara. Pelloia garnered first-team recognition for the second straight season. 

2025 WCC Coach of the Year             

John Mayer, LMU      

           

2025 WCC Pair of the Year                

Isabelle Reffel and Magdalena Rabitsch, LMU           

           

2025 WCC Defensive Player of the Year                    

Chloe Hooker, LMU              

 

2025 WCC Co-Freshmen of the Year             

Emma Eden, Pepperdine     

Tanon Rosenthal, LMU             

 

2025 All-WCC Beach Volleyball First Team               

Kate Clermont, Pepperdine

Emma Eden, Pepperdine

Chloe Hooker, LMU

Lisa Luini, LMU

Anna Pelloia, LMU

Isabelle Reffel, LMU

Tanon Rosenthal, LMU

Michelle Shaffer, LMU

McKenna Thomas, Pepperdine

Abbey Thorup, LMU

 

2025 All-WCC Beach Volleyball Second Team                       

Allie Cataldo, Saint Mary’s

Hannah Couch, Saint Mary’s

Giuliana Poletti-Corrales, LMU

Vilhelmiina Prihti, LMU

Magdalena Rabitsch, LMU

Sadie Snipes, Santa Clara

Ava Stoddard, Santa Clara

Alexandra Urbina, Santa Clara

 

2025 All-WCC Beach Volleyball All-Freshman Team                  

Ciara Cantlen, Santa Clara

Kawena Chillingworth, Santa Clara

Emma Eden, Pepperdine

Caroline Loughran, Santa Clara

Tanon Rosenthal, LMU

Burkleigh Smith, San Francisco

Sadie Snipes, Santa Clara

DALLAS – The Big 12 Conference announced the beach volleyball end of year awards and all-conference accolades on Wednesday (April 30). Arizona sophomore Ashlyn Zilliken received All-Big 12 honors after pairing with Madeline Walker to post a 21-8 record this season at the No. 3 spot in the lineup. 

It is the first conference honor for the native of McKinney, Texas, who led the team in wins on the year. The 21 victories are tied for eighth-most in program history in a single season, including wins over No. 1 TCU, Cal Poly, Boise State and Pepperdine. 

2025 Big 12 Beach Volleyball Awards

Pair of the Year – Anhelina Khmil and Ana Vergara, TCU

Freshman of the Year – Sofia Izuzuiza, TCU

Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Kylie Pitzak, Utah

Coach of the Year – Hector Gutierrez, TCU

 

Big 12 All-Conference Team

Ashlyn Zilliken, Arizona

Daniella Kensinger, Arizona State

Ava Kirunchyk, Arizona State

Samaya Morin, Arizona State

Daniela Alvarez, TCU

Maria Gonzalez, TCU

Hailey Hamlett, TCU

Anhelina Khmil, TCU

Tania Moreno, TCU

Ana Vergara, TCU

Bella Vezzani, Utah

 

The Big 12 announced the 2025 Big 12 Beach Volleyball yearly awards and All-Conference Team on Wednesday. TCU garnered three of the four yearly awards while Utah took home the final superlative award. TCU’s Anhelina Khmil and Ana Vergara were voted the Pair of the Year by the league’s head coaches, while Sofia Izuzquiza (TCU) earned Freshman of the Year. Hector Gutierrez rounded out the individual awards for the Horned Frogs as he was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year. Utah’s Kylie Pitzak was named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
 
Khmil and Vergara finished the season 18-0 with 17 of those wins coming on the No. 4 court. The duo was the only regular appearing pairing for TCU to finish the regular season undefeated and have combined for a total of 37 wins together all-time. They were selected as a part of the Big 12 All-Tournament team after going undefeated at the Big 12 Championship. The junior and senior accumulated 14 ranked wins on the season and entered Week 10 as the No. 11-ranked pair in the country according to TruVolley.
 
Izuzquiza finished her freshman season with a 26-5 record, the third-most wins by a Horned Frog this season. Of her 26 wins, 18 were against ranked opponents. She teamed up with Allanis Navas to start with a 15-0 record through the first six weeks of the season and are currently the ninth-ranked pair according to the TruVolley pair rankings.
 
Gutierrez led the Horned Frogs to a 19-5 record against ranked opponents. TCU has remained in the top five of the AVCA Coaches’ Poll throughout the entirety of the season and secured its third-ever conference Championship. Under Gutierrez’s tutelage, TCU earned the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship.
 
Pitzak was named the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The senior boasts a 3.83 GPA in quantitative analysis and has made the dean’s list seven of her eight semesters. She competed in every match for the Utes this season as she split her season between the No. 3 and No. 4 pairs. Pitzak helped Utah advance to the second day of the Big 12 Championship as she contributed a point to Utah’s 3-0 win with a 21-19, 21-15 straight sets victory in the fourth match of the Championship.
 

Pair of the Year – Anhelina Khmil and Ana Vergara, TCU

Freshman of the Year – Sofia Izuzquiza, TCU

Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Kylie Pitzak, Utah

Coach of the Year – Hector Gutierrez, TCU

Big 12 All-Conference Team

Ashlyn Zilliken, Arizona

Daniella Kensinger, Arizona State

Ava Kirunchyk, Arizona State

Samaya Morin, Arizona State

Daniela Alvarez, TCU

Maria Gonzalez, TCU

Hailey Hamlett, TCU

Anhelina Khmil, TCU

Tania Moreno, TCU

Ana Vergara, TCU

Bella Vezzani, Utah

 

*A tie resulted in the team being filled with 11 members instead of 10.

 

 

Anyone looking for outdoor adventure is sure to find it on a kayak polo team. Al Kolenda is on the U.S. Women’s National Kayak Polo Team — a squad of eight elite athletes from across the country gearing up for the Pan American Championships in Edmonton, Canada, this August. Kolenda says to qualify for the 2026 World Games in Germany, the U.S. team must take first place in Edmonton.

Kayak polo, also known as canoe polo, is a fast-paced, full-contact sport combining the finesse of kayaking with the strategy of basketball and the intensity of water polo, Kolenda explained in an email to the Source. The object of the game is to get the ball into the opponent’s net suspended above the water. Two teams compete, using their hands or paddles to pass, dribble and shoot the ball. Though wildly popular in Europe, it remains under the radar in the U.S., with fewer than 10 active clubs nationwide.

The national women’s team roster includes Kolenda (Bend), Chloe Olson (Seattle), Hannah Spellman (Austin), Heather Fenske (San Diego), Madeline Lee (Baltimore), Myrna Lewis (Austin, TX), Olly Gotel (Los Angeles), and Pin Thienapirak (New York City). To prepare for Edmonton, the team has been training in San Francisco and Austin, competing in tournaments across North America — from California to Vancouver Island to Richmond, Virginia.

“We’re doing everything ourselves — training, organizing, and fundraising,” says Kolenda. It will cost each player about $2,500 to compete in Canada, including airfare, lodging, registration, and transporting their specialized equipment.

Kolenda, 28, is the development manager for The Environmental Center, where she’s been involved since 2022. Last spring, she started a co-ed kayak polo team in Bend. She’s recruiting new team members. Right now, Kolenda says she doesn’t have enough members to compete in tournaments, but she does have enough for weekly practices. Ideally, she needs five to eight players with additional people as subs. Tournaments are in Washougal, Washington, San Francisco, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Austin and New York. Kolenda says you don’t have to compete to join the local team.

“This sport is exciting, demanding, and deserves a place on the U.S. athletic stage. We’re not just training to win, we’re building the future of kayak polo in America,” Kolenda says.

For the local team, she is looking for people 18 years old and up (or high school students with consent from their parents). No previous kayak polo experience required. Water polo background or kayaking experience is a bonus.

Practice is every Tuesday from 5:30-7:30pm on the Deschutes River below First Street Rapids, but above the dam. Gear can be borrowed, but Kolenda says it is helpful if team members have a kayak skirt and paddle. She’s also co-hosting a kayak polo training camp at Haystack Reservoir in June which will include players from outside the area.

Anyone interested can reach out to her at [email protected].

“With more local teams, we can grow this sport and maybe one day take home a world title,” Kolenda says. “But first, we have to get to Edmonton.”

Co-ed Kayak Polo Team

Tuesdays 5:30pm

Deschutes River, Bend