The Sequim volleyball team was seeded lower than coaches and players expected at districts this past weekend in Fife, and that made the hill that much higher for the Wolves to try and qualify for the state 2A tournament.
Sequim won its opening match against Olympic 3-2 (25-21, 25-14, 20-25, 25-27, 15-12), but then fell to powerhouse Bainbridge 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-15) and then to Orting 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-17) to fall short of state.
Coach Jennie Webber-Heilman said the Wolves placed second in the Olympic League and second at the league tournament, yet North Kitsap, which finished third in league, was seeded higher based in part on Ratings Percentage Index. That put the Wolves in the same bracket as Bainbridge.
“We finished fifth. We were close, but not close enough,” Webber-Heilman said. “This is a good group of girls. They get along well and work really hard every day. They were pretty sad afterward.”
Against Olympic on Friday, several of the players had huge games, led by senior Arianna Stovall, who had 13 kills and 10 stuff blocks to go along with 12-for-14 serving.
Sydney Clark served 14-for-15 with three kills and 11 digs, Rose Gibson served 22-for-22 with three aces, nine kills, two blocks and 10 digs and Kenzi Berglund served 17-for-19 with four aces, 24 assists and 18 digs.
“They were really targeting her. They made her work,” Webber-Heilman said. Libero Tiffany Lam had 12 digs and Brianna Palenik served 12-for-12.
Against Bainbridge, Gibson served 12-for-12 with a pair of aces and had five digs. Berglund served 6-for-6 with 15 assists, while Stovall had five kills and two blocks.
After these pair of games, it came down to getting past Orting.
“We didn’t play terrible, but we didn’t play our best,” Webber-Heilman said. She felt if the Wolves could’ve won a second close game, it would have been a different match.
Clark served 13-for-13 with an ace, while Lam had 16 digs. Berglund served 9-for-10 with 16 assists and seven digs and Stovall served 7-for-8 with 11 kills, a block and five digs.
Bainbridge went on to win the district tournament, while North Kitsap was third and Orting fourth.
The good news for the Wolves, who finished the season 12-7, is that they bring nearly their entire team back next year to try and get back to state for the first time since 2021. They will lose senior Destinie Bernard and then a huge part of the team in Stovall.
Sequim Gazette file photo by Michael Dashiell Sequim’s Rose Gibson looks on as a Bainbridge Spartan tips a shot past a pair of Wolves blockers in an Olympic League tournament game on Nov. 2.
