St. Helens High School volleyball – Taylor Albertson

Congratulations to St. Helens High School for winning the 2014 5A Oregon State Volleyball Title today. Ashland High School lost to St. Helens just last week when I took this photo. Taylor Albertson was the star on that night for St. Helens, and the same was true today. She had 26 kills and 8 blocks in just four sets today. Her stats were probably similar against Ashland.

Some things to consider…

What if all of Ashland’s wins in tournaments had counted instead of just all of their losses? What if the state rankings were done based on complete data? What if Ashland’s wins against higher ranked teams meant something in the rankings? Instead, Ashland was stuck with a poor seed which meant the Grizzlies had to play the eventual state champion on the road in the single-elimination round of 16.

Ashland beat (on the road) teams that eventually came in 3rd, 4th, and 6th in the state. Ashland also beat Crater at home (and Crater will end up with a Top 8 ranking). Ashland never played the teams that came in 2nd and 5th.

So maybe Ashland would have finished near the top had they been given a fairer chance. Oh well; there’s always next year.

Posted on November 8th, 2014 under outside of ashland, people. Tags: Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D750, sports photography, volleyball. Comments Off on Taylor Albertson leads St. Helens to state title

SOU volleyball – Paulla Pinheiro

@SOURaiders @RaiderVB @paulla_op

Tonight’s come-from-behind victory against 3rd place Concordia had a familiar feel to it. The Raiders were down 2 games to 1 after getting hammered in the third set by Eastern Oregon University a little over a month ago. The same thing happened earlier this evening. With a flair for the dramatic, they came roaring back this time too for a five-set nail biter.

A win Saturday night (in Ashland @ 5 p.m.) means a bye in the first round of the Cascade Conference playoffs next week.

Posted on November 8th, 2014 under only in ashland, people. Tags: Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D750, paulla pinheiro, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography, volleyball. Comments Off on Raiders win!

Southern Oregon University wrestlers Brock Gutches and Max Hane

@SOUWrestling

#2 SOU faces off against #10 Menlo following the volleyball game. Brock Gutches is ranked #1 in the country. The excitement may come at the end of the evening when two, Top-5 heavyweights (Scott Brasil and Clayton Burtis) go at it.

Posted on November 7th, 2014 under only in ashland, people. Tags: brock gutches, Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography, wrestling. Comments Off on SOU wrestling tonight

Ashland High School volleyball – Jordan Tilley

@JordanTilley505

Congratulations to Jordan Tilley and Hope Baldrica for being chosen all-league in their final year at Ashland High School. Hope will be playing volleyball at Colorado Christian University next year.

Posted on November 7th, 2014 under only in ashland, people. Tags: ashland high school, Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D750, sports photography, volleyball. Comments Off on 2014 Class 5A Midwestern League girls volleyball all-league selections

SOU basketball – Ben DeSaulnier

@SOURaiders

…to catch the SOU men’s basketball team in Ashland is tonight. After tonight they will hit the road until December 19. That’s a long time so you should probably be there tonight. Game time is 7:30. Come early as the women will be playing at 5:30, also against Simpson. Both Southern Oregon University teams are 2-0 on the young season.

Posted on November 4th, 2014 under only in ashland, people. Tags: basketball, Ben DeSaulnier, Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments: 1

Anson Bishof

This great band from Salt Lake City, Utah sound a bit like what would happen if Neurosis and Giant Squid (two of my favorite bands) had a baby. Hopefully it won’t be their last trip through Ashland.

Jessica Bundy

Making Fuck @ Club 66 (Ashland, Oregon) Kory Quist

Posted on October 19th, 2014 under only in ashland, people. Tags: club 66, concert photography, Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D750. Comments Off on Making Fuck @ Club 66 (10/14/14)

2014 AHS volleyball team celebrates the block

Last night, the Grizzlies played two league games in Eagle Point. However, Eagle Point was not their opponent. They lost to Marist and beat North Eugene. This adds additional intrigue to Tuesday’s match against Crater as an Ashland victory will leave the conference with a three-way tie for first place. Crater has beaten Marist twice, Marist has beaten Ashland twice, and Ashland has beaten Crater. Unfortunately for Ashland, the Crater game is on the road, and Ashland didn’t get a home game all season against Marist.

The following week begins the state tournament. The good news for Ashland is even if they lose to Crater, they will still have at least one home playoff game.

Posted on October 19th, 2014 under people. Tags: ashland high school, ellie, Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D750, sports photography, volleyball. Comments Off on Ashland High School volleyball

AHS volleyball – Soleil Lena

In a non-league game tonight at Ashland High School, Cascade Christian will pay the Grizzlies a visit. CCHS is one of the top 3A volleyball programs in the state. They have a perfect record against 3A teams and have beat several 4A and 5A teams. Ashland is coming off a weekend in which they were victorious against a couple of higher ranked 5A teams (Bend #2 and Summit #4 who were both defeated by Ashland on their home turf). So on paper this perhaps looks like another easy Ashland victory. However, Ashland will be without senior starters Jordan Tilley and Grace Lenthe so the underclassmen will need to step up their game. This should be a good one. Things will get started at about 7 p.m.

Posted on October 15th, 2014 under only in ashland, people. Tags: ashland high school, Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D750, sports photography, volleyball. Comments Off on Volleyball battle in Ashland tonight

Ashland sunrise before the storm

About 10 days ago we had a rare day full of rain in Ashland. Before the rain began, the sunrise was rather spectacular. I was a minute or so late on this photo to catch the wave that formed in the sky, but you can sort of see a less impressive version of it here.

Posted on October 6th, 2014 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: clouds, Nikon 85mm f/1.8 g lens, Nikon D600, sunrise. Comments Off on Wavey sunrise