The Mt. Hood Community College volleyball team finished in 5th place when they hosted the Halloween Classic Oct. 28-29.

Dorian Harris, former coach of the volleyball team, started the Halloween Classic 30 years ago. Athletic director Fred Schnell, honored Harris with a presentation Saturday and from now on the tournament will be known as the Dorian Harris Classic.

Each of the teams in the tournament dressed up in costumes. The award for best-dressed team was given to Lower Columbia, who dressed as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. MHCC dressed as nerds.

A fill-in team had to be put together to make up for the absence of one of the teams that was invited to the tournament. The MHCC volleyball statistician was one of the people used for the team. This resulted in the stat sheet being incomplete.

The volleyball team got off to a good start by beating Edmonds in three games 30-18, 30-22 and 30-16, but moved down to the consolation bracket after falling to Whatcom in four 30-26, 30-28, 27-30 and 30-26.

The team defeated Chemeketa in two games, both by the same 30-27 score. The Saints then moved on to win the consolation bracket and finish in 5th place by defeating Blue Mountain in two games 31-29 and 30-21.

Despite coming back to win the consolation bracket, Head coach Lena Chan felt the team could have played better.

“I think we got a bit distracted by the fun of the tournament and we didn’t necessarily come to win,” said Chan.

The Saints are no longer suffering any serious injuries, but some of the players continue to have slight problems. Knee injuries are the most common and for Chan it’s difficult because she wants the players to improve but doesn’t want to overextend their injuries.
Tonight the Saints play in the Green River Crossover in Auburn, Wash. It’s a tournament that carries over to Saturday. Only six teams will participate in the tournament.

Chan wants the team to be more focused when they travel to Auburn.

“I want the girls to approach it more like it’s going to be at the NWAACC tournament, where each match matters. That’s our biggest struggle right now, to get focused enough for each individual match.”

The Saints are tied for second in the Southern Region. Their final league game is against Clackamas on Nov. 9. A win could clinche a first place finish and a loss will bump them down to third.