Volleyball: Wolves top Roughriders in 4 games

Sequim and Port Angeles battled back and forth in a rivalry volleyball match on Sept. 9, with the Sequim Wolves coming out on top 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-12) to improve to 2-0 on the young season.

Wolves coach Jennie Webber Heilman said her squad went back to the fundamentals in the middle of the match.

“In the fourth game we were able to run a quicker offense, we got settled in a little bit better,” she said.

Kendall Hastings was the offensive player of the match for Sequim with 16 kills, five stuff blocks and 14 digs.

Jordan Hegtvedt was the Wolves’ defensive leader, but also contributed offensively.

“She had a kill out of the back row as she is our libero for the time being,” Webber Heilman said.

“She served 12 for 12 with an ace, two perfect passes and 24 digs. She was our defensive leader.”

Allie Gale, Sequim’s lone setter, had 38 assists to go along with seven digs and an 18 of 19 serving performance with three aces.

Jolene Vaara also contributed offensively, 10 kills and only two hitting errors. She also served 15-of-17 with two aces and had 10 digs.

“She was leading serve receive from the middle — not a normal spot to do that,” Webber Heilman said.

Jordan Kidd was perfect on nine serves and had seven digs, while Kelsi Bergeson added three kills and seven digs.

It was the season opener for the Roughriders and coach Jennifer Reynolds enjoyed how her team performed.

“We had our jamboree last week and we saw where we are at and what we needed to work on,” Reynolds said. “We practiced rotations, positions, and yesterday they came out and executed it and it was amazing.

“It was the best defense from the whole team that I have seen in a long time. They were playing to the whistle and it was great.”

Kennedy Bruch had 11 kills, 18 digs and four aces on 100 percent serving at outside hitter for the Riders.

Libero Cindy Liang contributed 21 digs and a service ace while Josephine Edgington posted five digs, four kills and 100 percent serving with four aces.

Zoe Smithson had five blocks at the net and served 11 for 12 with an ace.

“An amazing job with blocking,” Reynolds said. “Zoe is able to hop over to the middle and she’s agile and has a great vertical (jump).”

Setter Emi Halberg totaled 12 digs, three kills and a pair of service aces while Lily Halberg posted eight digs, six kills and an ace.

Reynolds hopes her squad can learn from the match.

“Fourth set we might have gotten a little tired,” she said. “When we started game four we already had played two hours and 18 minutes. So this provides a great opportunity to practice our mental toughness and make sure we are on a steady climb and that we don’t give our all at the start and not have something left at the end.”

Road opener win

The Wolves player their first full match of the year on Sept. 6, fighting traffic jams and a slow start against West Seattle to win 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22).

The Wolves played a rare Labor Day match and unfortunately spent hours in traffic all the way to West Seattle via Tacoma and back, Webber Heilman said.

“The girls were really tired, but at least we won 3-0,” she said.

Sequim fell behind in the first game, but went on a big run after the Wildcats brought in a weaker rotation.

The Wolves served 89 percent for the match. Webber Heilman said the team only has nine girls on varsity right now, but that a lot of players are returning to the program that was truncated last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We got a lot of kids back who’ve gone two years without playing,” she said.

Gale led the Wolves with 28 assists, while Hegtvedt served a perfect 19-for-19 with a pair of aces and five digs. Webber Heilman said Hegtvedt had a number of three- to four-point runs while serving and had a six-serve run.

Hastings led the attack at the net with nine kills, five blocks and seven digs. Vaara added six kills and seven digs. Mallory Morey served 10-for-11 with five digs, and Lindsay Swanson had three aces and four kills.

The junior varsity lost to West Seattle 2-1.

Coming up

Sequim was scheduled to play at Olympic (Silverdale) on Sept. 14 —results were not available at press time.

The Wolves host perennial league powerhouse North Kitsap on Sept. 16.

Sequim then travels for a non-league match-up at Blaine on Sept. 18, and hosts class 3A Bainbridge on Sept. 21.

Sequim’s Kelsi Bergeson, right, looks to hit past Port Angeles’ Ava Hairell in the second game of the Wolves’ 3-1 win over the Roughriders on Sept. 9. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

Sequim’s Jolene Vaara, right and Malory Morey look to block a shot by Port Angeles’ Kennedy Bruch in the Wolves’ 3-1 win over the Roughriders on Sept. 9. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell