Volleyball: NK’s Vikings hand SHS Wolves their first loss

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September 28, 2016 1:32 am
Sequim’s Sydney Balkan looks to drive home a point against North Kitsap on Sept. 22. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Sequim’s Sydney Balkan looks to drive home a point against North Kitsap on Sept. 22. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash

Olympic League standings

Team League Overall

North Kitsap 4-0 5-1

Port Angeles 3-0 4-0

Sequim 2-1 3-1

Bremerton 1-3 1-3

Olympic 1-3 1-5

Kingston 1-2 2-4

North Mason 0-3 0-4

The defending league champs are at it again.

North Kitsap proved to be a tough foe as they swept Sequim on the Wolves’ home court Sept. 22.

The Vikings won 25-10, 25-15 and 25-20.

“We were struggling to serve-receive and then could not put the ball in play,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber Heilman said.

Ella Christiansen led the team with six kills and Adrienne Haggerty had five. Sydney Balkan added 11 digs, six assists and two kills.

“In the third game we started playing better and were ahead most of the game,” Webber Heilman said, but with the game tied at 20-20, NK senior Bri Duchemin led a Viking rally from the front row that scored five consecutive points.

Duchemin had 17 kills, 18 digs and four blocks while Elena Vasquez finished with 15 digs, Caitlyn Kyser had 10 digs and Hope Doherty added 33 assists to lead the Vikings.

On Sept. 20, Sequim swept a three-game series with North Mason on the road, winning 25-17, 25-10 and 26-24.

Christiansen was 20-for-23 on serves with seven aces, Jadyn Overby-Morginson and Kaila Sundquist paced the offense with four kills each and Balkan added a team-high nine assists.

Haggerty had two blocks and libero Isabelle Dennis added 10 digs to lead the defense.

“We dominated the the first two games with tough serving and defensive play,” Webber Heilman said. “In the third game we got behind by not passing serve receive well and unforced errors.”

Going fourth at Monarch Challenge

Sequim also saw action at the Sept. 24 Monarch Challenge in Longview, hosted by Mark Morris High School, on Sept. 24, earning a 4-3 mark and placing fourth overall.

Sequim opened pool play with a two-set win against River Ridge, 25-16, 27-26. After a loss to Kalama (25-17, 25-19) the Wolves topped defeated WF West 25-20 and 25-23 to advance to the upper bracket.

After splitting the first two games in the advanced bracket (a win versus Hudson Bay 25-21, 25-22, a loss to Timberline, 25-19, 25-20), Sequim outlasted Battle Ground in three games (20-25, 25-19, 16-14). In the third/fourth place match, a rematch with Kalama, Sequim improved but still fell, 25-20, 25-21.

“Our goal was to improve our play through the day which we did, even though the girls were pretty tired at the end — we finally finished our last game at 8:45 p.m.,” Webber Heilman said.

“We still need to work on our serve receive, but we served tough through the tourney and our hitting and blocking greatly improved,” she said. “Another good thing that the girls did was they played hard no matter if we were ahead or behind.”

Looking ahead

Sequim was scheduled to play at rival Port Angeles on Sept. 27 — results were not available at press time. The Wolves are at Kingston Sept. 29 and host Bremerton on Oct. 4.