Ten months after losing a heart-breaker to their Olympic League rivals, Sequim found themselves again on the short end of a five-set classic.

This match, however, didn’t end Sequim’s playoff dreams.

North Kitsap came back from a 2-1 deficit to top the host Wolves on Sept. 21 in an early-season match-up of two of the league’s top teams.

Held in the Olympic Peninsula Academy gym while SHS’s main gym is refurbished, the match saw SHS’s Jolene Vaara rack up a team high 19 kills and six blocks. Sydney Clark had 27 assists and Brianna Palenik added eight kills, but it just wasn’t enough against the Vikings in a 25-18, 18-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-13 defeat.

Vaara and libero Tiffany Lam had 12 digs apiece as the Wolves displayed their serving prowess: Arianna Stovall was 23-of-24 from the serve line and Clark was 18-of-20; both had five aces.

A day later, Sequim (3-2) dropped a three-set match to Jackson (26-24, 25-8, 25-10), a 4A state tourney qualifier in 2022.

Vaara had team highs in kills (six) and digs (14) while freshman Kassi Montero paced the team in serving (10-of-10 with four aces).

“Jackson was a good team and we played right with them the first game,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber Heilman said. “The match against NK the night before was a long, hard battle and we didn’t have much energy left.”

SHS tops Trojans in 4

On Sept. 19, Sequim overcame a slow start against Olympic, but got hot thanks to some solid serving from Montero to beat the Trojans 3-1 (15-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-18) in Silverdale.

Montero went on a 12-point serving run in the second game to get the Wolves going. She ended up serving 24-for-25 (96 percent) with three aces.

Stovall also had a good serving match, going 19-for-22 with four aces. She had runs of four, five and six points.

Vaara was again a force at the front with 16 kills and three stuff blocks. She added 14 digs and served 8-for-9.

Clark served 11-for-12 with 19 assists. Ashton Reichner had 10 digs, Kenzi Berglund nine and Lam seven.

Looking ahead

Sequim was scheduled to host Bainbridge on Sept. 26; results were not available at press time.

The Wolves are at Bremerton on Sept. 28.

Sequim hosts Kingston on Oct. 3 and plays at North Mason on Oct. 5 before traveling to Olympia for the Capital City Invite on Oct. 7.

As teammates Sydney Clark, center, and Arianna Stovall, right, look on, Sequim’s Rose Gibson goes up for a hit in the Wolves’ Sept. 21 match-up with North Kitsap.

Sequim Gazette photos by Emily Matthiessen With teammate Kassi Montero, left, looking on, Sequim’s Kenzi Berglund passes the ball in an Olympic League match against North Kitsap on Sept. 21.

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen / As teammates assi Montero, left, and Sydney Clark, right, look on Sequim’s Jolene Vaara digs a ball and passes to a teammate in the Wolves’ Sept. 21 home match against North Kitsap.