Top Eugene area high school performances for Sept. 4-8 games
High school gyms and football fields are once again roaring throughout the state, and Eugene-area teams brought the heat after the first week of competition.
This week's top performances include wins from Sheldon volleyball and Marist Catholic girls soccer, as well as the Willamette boys soccer team's nailbiting win over Sheldon.
Each week, The Register-Guard will highlight top performances from student-athletes and teams. Coaches can send stats and nominate players of the week by emailing enoriega@registerguard.com.
Here are this week's top prep performers:
Sheldon volleyball finds chemistry early
The Sheldon volleyball team defeated Willamette (25-7, 25-9, 25-10), earning its first league win of the season Tuesday night.
The Irish improved to 4-2 overall on the season, while the Wolverines dropped to 0-4 overall.
Yana Tuioti led the Irish with 10 kills and eight digs. Alyssa Lewey had 27 assists and nine aces.
Despite seeing very little game action her freshman year, Tuioti said she learned to stay disciplined and showed support for the team.
"Now, I'm learning how to adjust because this is a very different team than last year," Tuioti said. "We're still finding how to work together, but I think it's getting a lot better."
Sheldon has also seen some early success from Roseburg transfer Emma Fairbairn, who had 24 digs and 14 kills in the Irish's four-set loss to Marshfield on Aug. 29.
Fairbairn said her goals this season is to be more mentally calm and control her emotions.
"I tend to put a lot of stress on myself, so I'm really working on that," she said. "Statistic-wise, I of course want more kills and digs but also be a very good well-rounded player; and be the person that my whole team can look up to in a time of need."
Sheldon will travel to Portland where the Irish will compete in the Central Catholic (2-0) tournament Saturday.
Willamette stuns Sheldon with late goal
Joaquin Balcazar-Recinos recorded his first hat trick to lead Willamette to a nail-biting 3-0 home win against Sheldon Wednesday.
Balcazar-Recinos scored his first goal with 15 seconds left in the first half. He scored his second goal in the 48th minute.
Sheldon tied the game first with a goal from Tucker Darland in the 50th minute followed by Jack Williams' goal in the 73rd minute.
Balcazar-Recinos' goal in the 74th minute finished his hat trick to give the Wolverines their first league win of the season.
"The third goal took guts to do what I did because I rarely do that," he said. "I took it home by myself, saw an opening and just slot it in."
Willamette improved to 3-0 overall. Sheldon dropped to 2-1 overall.
Willamette was set to play at Grants Pass (1-0-1, 0-0-1 Southwest Conference) in a league match Friday. Sheldon hosts South Medford (3-0, 1-0 SWC) in a league match on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Marist girls soccer shuts out North Eugene
Cloe Chase scored her 14th goal of the season as Marist Catholic defeated Springfield / Mohawk 9-1 in a nonleague match Thursday night.
Chase had two hat tricks (six goals); freshman Libby McLaughlin had two goals and three assists and Ella Braunger scored a goal and two assists.
Chase scored the only goal to lift the Spartans to a 1-0 nonleague victory over North Eugene Tuesday night.
"This young Marist team should be super proud of themselves," head coach Stefan Schroffner said. "Don't let North Eugene's record fool you. They have great individual attacking players and will be a top-five team in the 5A this season. But tonight was our night in our house.
"We were determined and supported each other as a team on defense and had quality counterattacking throughout, which put them on their heels."
The Spartans followed it with a 9-1 nonleague victory over Springfield / Mohawk Thursday.
Marist improved to 4-0 overall on the season. North Eugene dropped to 1-2 and Springfield / Mohawk dropped to 1-4.
Marist will hit the road to face North Marion (1-1) in a non-league match at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Thurston volleyball wins fifth straight match
Thurston secured its first league victory of the season against Ashland, 25-19, 25-9, 25-17 Thursday night.
Emily Buller led the Colts with 27 assists, six kills, six digs and four aces. Julia Cook had 10 kills and nine digs.
Savannah Efseaff contributed 15 digs and eight kills.
Thurston (5-2) hosts Churchill (2-1) in a league match on Monday at 6:45 p.m.
Marist volleyball remains undefeated this season
Marist defeated North Eugene, 25-12, 25-17, 25-15 in a nonleague match Thursday.
Giana Elgarico led the Spartans with 10 kills, four digs and one block. Lauren Rohman had 12 assists, three kills, three aces, two digs and one block.
Marist improved to 5-0 overall on the season. North Eugene dropped 3-5 overall on the season and 0-1 in the Midwestern League.
Marist travels to Grants Pass to play a nonleague match against Hidden Valley (1-3) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Other first-week action
The Pleasant Hill girls soccer team defeated La Pine 11-0 Tuesday for its first league win of the season.
The Monroe volleyball team (1-5) defeated Kennedy, 25-11, 25-19, 25-14 in a nonleague match Thursday night. Josie Essner had 11 kills, Madison Hull had five kills and five aces. Lainie Bateman had 12 assists and four aces. Kiana Cejas had 14 digs.
The Creswell volleyball team (4-2, 1-1 Mountain Valley Conference) defeated Harrisburg, 25-8, 25-9, 25-19 in a league match Tuesday night. Piper Hanson led with 10 kills and two aces, Hope Ukolov had nine assists and four kills, Leaghanna Sharp had five aces and Kimberlee Kelsey contributed five kills and eight assists.
Edith Noriega is a sports reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at ENoriega@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Noriega_Edith.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Top Eugene area high school performances for Sept. 4-8 games
