Sequim serves up win at Port Angeles

One season removed from being shut out of the postseason for the first time in decades, Sequim’s volleyball squad is back to its winning ways —including a season sweep of its cross-peninsula rival.

The Wolves (7-2) had a near-perfect serving mark in a three-set sweep of Port Angeles’ Roughriders on Saturday, winning 25-9, 25-20 and 25-20.

The Wolves’ Ali Gale served 27-for-27 with three aces while Amanda Weller served 25-for-25 with six aces and five kills. Overall, the entire team only missed one serve in the first three games of the match and just four for the entire match — the teams played an extra two games to get in additional play to make up for the shortened season.

Port Angeles came back to win the final two games, 25-20 and 25-12.

“We played great defensively and had excellent serving, especially that first game,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber Heilman said. “We came out serving really tough, and they couldn’t recover until the second game. There were a lot of long rallies. It was a good defensive game on both sides.”

In addition to her serving, Gale played libero and contributed 30 digs. Setter Kalli Wiker had 35 assists and served 15-for-16 with 14 digs, while Jordan Hegtvedt and Lindsay Swanson each had 14 digs.

Kendall Hastings had 19 kills for the Wolves, including 16 in the first three games. She added four stuff blocks. Jolene Vaara had seven kills.

For Port Angeles, Jaida Wood, Sam Robbins and Zoe Smithson all had nine points, while Lily Halberg had seven points.

Sequim started the week with a three-set road sweep of East Jefferson, dominating with scores of 25-14, 25-4 and 25-9.

“We kind of knew going on that we needed to work on our quick offense, and we also got back on track with our serving at 96 percent with 19 aces,” Webber Heilman said.

It was a game of scoring runs for Sequim. Wiker had a six-point run in the first game and a seven-point run in the third game and ended up serving 17-for-18 with four aces, along with 24 assists and five digs.

Amanda Weller served on a five-point run and a seven-point run in the third and finished 17-of-18 with four aces and five kills.

McKenna Hastings had a 13-point service run with six aces to close out the second game.

Hastings was a perfect 20-for-20 with seven aces along with three perfect passes and seven digs.

Gale added a six-point run in the second game and served eight for eight with two aces and 10 digs.

Kendall Hastings totaled 13 kills, and Vaara had seven kills and Sequim’s only block.

The Wolves rounded out the week with three-set sweep at home against Klahowya’s Eagles on March 8; details were not available at press time.

Coming up

Sequim closes the regular season with a pair of away matches: March 10 at Kingston, and March 17 at Olympic (Silverdale).

Check out livestream and recorded matches online at tinyurl.com/SHSvolleyball21.

Sequim’s Jayla Julmist, right, looks for a spike as Klahowya’s Lexie Scott looks for a block in a March 8 league match. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

Sequim’s Kalli Wiker (21) and Kendall Hastings look for a block as the Wolves take on — and beat — Klahowya on March 8 at home. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

Sequim’s Kendall Hastings looks to hit past Klahowya defenders Alyssa Hintz (2) and Aleah Catt in the Wolves’ league win at home on March 8. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell