Despite recent loss of beloved coach, CBC volleyball finishes the season strong

It’s been a roller-coaster ride this fall for the Columbia Basin College volleyball team.

The Hawks were one of the best teams in the entire Northwest Athletic Conference, winning matches at a furious pace.

But late in the regular season last month, CBC head coach DiShondra Goree died unexpectedly of natural causes hours after the Hawks had beaten Treasure Valley.

It was a tremendous shock to anyone involved with the program, but most of all to her players.

Still, CBC fought through that to finish the season without missing a scheduled match, as a trio of CBC assistant coaches forged ahead with their players. The Hawks fell short of winning the East Region title, but they qualified for regionals.

CBC lost to Linn-Benton, but won two other matches to qualify for the Elite Eight.

That portion of the tournament happened two weekends ago, and the Hawks ended up finishing second.

CBC beat Skagit Valley 3-2 in the quarterfinals, then took down North Idaho 3-2 in the semifinals.

So it only seemed fitting the Hawks would take Linn-Benton to five games before falling 3-2 in the final on Nov. 20.

Linn-Benton finished with a 32-1 record. CBC finished its tumultuous season at 26-4.

In the final, freshman Hokulani Sagapolu (Hawaii) led the Hawks with 17 kills, 15 digs and 4 blocks. Teammate Lucendy Perez (Chiawana) added 11 kills, while Josephine Thompson (Manson) had 29 assists and 20 digs.

Sagapolu and freshman Abbey Bonnington (Chiawana) — who had 23 digs and 4 aces in the title match — were named to the all-tournament first team. Thompson was named to the all-tournament second team.

On Monday night, Goree was named the NWAC Volleyball Coach of the Year. For the entire 32-team NWAC.

▪ The NWAC also announced its Region all-star teams for volleyball recently.

As expected, the Hawks were well-represented. Goree was named East Region Coach of the Year.

Sagapolu was named to the East first team, as was sophomore Grace Morby (Kennewick).

Thompson was named to the East second team.

Joining her on the second team was Spokane Community College sophomore Madeline Gebers (Kennewick).

North Idaho’s Taylor Rowley was named East MVP.

In the North, former Richland High star Marin Mackey, playing as a sophomore for Bellevue, was named region MVP.

Joining her on the North first team is Edmonds freshman Hailey Dreier (Kennewick), while Mackey’s Bellevue teammate — sophomore Makenna Mosher (Walla Walla) — was a second-team selection for the North.

Baseball

Richland High grad Eric Yardley, a journeyman relief pitcher, elected for free agency on Nov. 11.

Yardley, a right-hander who pitches with a submarine type of delivery, has spent most of the 2022 season at Buffalo — which is the Toronto Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate.

Earlier in the 2022 season, Yardley had begun the year with the Iowa Cubs, Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate, before being cut.

In 37 appearances, Yardley compiled 37.1 innings, had a 3-2 record and a 5.79 earned run average. He had 33 strikeouts, and opposing batters hit .291 off of him.

Yardley’s story is a great one of persistence. The now 32-year-old toiled in the minor leagues for six seasons before getting a call up to the San Diego Padres in 2019.

In November of 2019, the Milwaukee Brewers signed him, and he made the Opening Day roster. He spent parts of the 2020 and 2021 seasons with the Brewers. In January of this year, the Cubs signed him, but released him in early May.

Three weeks later, Toronto signed Yardley.

Don’t be surprised if another team signs him before the 2023 season.

Hockey

What a great weekend for the Tri-City Americans, who won twice at home.

The Ams beat Spokane 4-2 on Saturday night, with Parker Bell scoring two goals, and Ethan Ernst adding a goal and assist.

Defenseman Lukas Dragicevic had another strong outing, picking up an assist, going +3 in the plus-minus stat, and taking 9 shots. More on Dragicevic in a minute.

Goalie Tomas Suchanek had a great game, stopping 31 of 33 Spokane shots for the win.

Tri-City wasn’t done. On Sunday afternoon, the Ams’ other goalie, Nick Avakyan, had 42 saves as Tri-City held off Seattle 4-3.

In that game, Ernst and Dragicevic each had short-handed goals against the Thunderbirds — who are one of the top teams in the Western Conference.

Adam Mechura added a goal and assist in the game.

What made Sunday’s game so exciting was Tri-City was trying to hang on to a 4-2 lead over the final 6 minutes. The T-Birds pulled their goalie to add an extra attacker, and although they did get one goal back, they couldn’t get the game-tying score.

It was seriously in doubt until the final 8 seconds. But Avakyan and his teammates held off a tremulous barrage of shots to get the victory.

Now sitting in seventh place in the West with 20 points (10-13-0-0 record), this Americans squad is well ahead of last year’s version, and they’d be in the playoffs if the season ended right now.

▪ Now more on Dragicevic.

The 6-foot-2, 181-pound defenseman was graded a B back in October when the NHL’s Central Scouting list came out.

That means the 17-year-old would be considered a serious second- or third-round pick in next summer’s NHL Draft (which is set for June 28-29 in Nashville).

But Central Scouting came out last week with a revision, and Dragicevic was rebranded with an A grade. That means he’s got a good chance of being a first-round selection.

He’s currently leading the Ams in scoring with 32 points (8 goals, 24 assists). Those 24 assists are third best in the entire Western Hockey League.

Dragicevic also has a team-best shots on goal this season with 83.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.