Volleyball: SHS squad sweeps aside Olympic, Coupeville

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Olympic League standings (as of Sept. 19)

North Kitsap 2-0 3-1

Port Angeles 1-0 2-0

Sequim 1-0 2-0

Bremerton 1-1 1-1

Olympic 1-1 1-3

Kingston 0-2 0-4

North Mason 0-2 0-2

After a pair of three-game sweeps to start the season, the Wolves are in for a battle.

Sequim (1-0 in league, 2-0 overall) earned a pair of wins last week, knocking off Olympic League foe Olympic at home on Sept. 13 and non-league opponent Coupeville on the road on Sept. 14 (25-17, 25-13, 26-24).

Sequim was slated to play at North Mason on Sept. 20 — results were not available at press time — before hosting reigning league champ North Kitsap on Sept. 22 and play at the Monarch Challenge in Longview on Sept. 24.

Against Olympic, Sequim started strong to take a 25-14 win in the first game, then simply dominated in games two and three (25-11, 25-6).

“We had some good hits right off the bat and some good blocks,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber Heilman said. “They (Olympic) kind of fell apart after that.”

Adrienne Haggerty led a balanced attack with four kills while Ella Christiansen had three. Sydney Balkan and Lillian Oden had seven assists each. Libero Isabelle Dennis had eight digs and Haggerty had five of the team’s nine blocks to pace the defense.

“Isabelle was playing great defense and led our serve receive,” Weber Heilman said.

Sequim had 11 aces overall — three each from Balkan, Christiansen and Haggerty.

Webber Heilman noted Sequim had some lapses — uncharacteristically letting the ball drop a couple of times — but setting a good overall tone in their league opener.

“We were serving well (and) getting some good swings,” she said.

A day later on Whidbey Island, Sequim once again started strong in taking the first two games (25-17, 25-13), but a nine-serve streak in game three from the host Wolves put Sequim on its collective heels.

Coupeville led 18-9 and 24-20 before Sequim scored the final six points for a 26-24 game win, clinching the sweep.

Haggerty led the team with nine kills and Christiansen had four; Balkan and Maddie Potts added three each. Oden led the team with 10 assists while Haggerty had all three Sequim blocks. Tayler Breckenridge led the team with nine digs.