By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  With a good mixture of youth like with the two freshmen in Lindsay Arritola and Irene Rocha to go with their experience as in Abby Weber and Lily Castaneda, the Blanchet Catholic opened up their season and first game back in 2A with a win.  A 25-19, 25-10, 25-14 sweep of East Linn Christian to open up the season as they now prepare for a quick turnaround having a game Friday afternoon.

“The new girls, they know a lot of Volleyball and so we treat them like family and everything we do, we do together,” Castaneda said.  “Volleyball is a rollercoaster (of a game) so this moment is what carries it.”

Weber adds that getting off on the right foot was a good thing for the Cavaliers going into Friday’s game at Valley Catholic on the road. It helped put them as a squad in a positive mindset as they go up to play the Vailants before they close out their non-league slate against Westside Christian on August 31 going into league play September 12.

The biggest thing they need to work on moving forward will be their communication.

“Our biggest thing is communication. I think we’re pretty good at having energy on the court…but I think we need to work on the actual talking in the game to each other and trusting each other. So I think communication and trust is definitely there, but I think we need to build it up more and I think that’ll come with time,” Weber said.

Blanchet opens Tri-River Conference play September 12 with Regis

Photos By Jeremy McDonald