SHS volleyball 2015 season preview
Head coach: Jennie Webber Heilman (23rd season)
2014 record: 10-2 in Olympic League (second place); 1-2 at districts; 14-5 overall
Top returners: Rylie Roberts (sr.), Sydney Balkan (jr.), Ella Christiansen (jr.), Megan Breckenridge (sr.), Maddie Potts (jr.), McKenzie Bentz (sr.)
Key newcomers: Adrienne Haggerty-Hill (jr.), Lillian Oden (jr.), with swing (varsity/JV players) Taylor Breckenridge (fr.), Annika Christensen (fr.), Kaila Sundquist (jr.), Jadyn Overby-Morgison (jr.)
by MICHAEL DASHIELL
Sequim Gazette
Going into her 23rd year as Wolves head coach, Sequim’s Jennie Webber Heilman may be facing her toughest challenge yet.
On one hand, Sequim lost three all-Olympic League first team players to graduation and another two of her top returning players are likely ineligible for the first month of the season.
“We’ll be missing a couple of players at the start of the season with grades,” Webber Heilman said. “That’s going to cost us.”
Gone are Emma LeBlanc, Alyse Armstrong and Emily Wallner, senior stalwarts that led last
season’s squad to a second-place finish behind North Kitsap and a 14-5 overall record. LeBlanc was named defensive MVP while Armstrong and Wallner led the team in assists, kills and aces.
The Wolves also lost seniors Kylee Salazar and Cheyanne Sokkoppa.
“Experience-wise, we’re really hurting,” Webber Heilman said.
This year’s roster does feature several players with varsity experience, though, including senior Rylie Roberts, who earned her first all-Olympic League honor after being named to the second team in 2014. Roberts was second on the team with 190 digs and third with 78 kills and 34 aces.
Also back is junior Sydney Balkan, who was third in the team in assists, fifth in digs and was one of the team’s better servers (92.7 percent).
Seniors McKenzie Bentz and Megan Breckenridge and juniors Ella Christiansen and Maddie Potts are back as well, with all four seeing some varsity time last fall. Christensen was third in blocks (16) and fourth in kills (60) while Breckenridge was fourth in blocks (12) and fifth in kills (46). Potts had 21 aces and 11 blocks, both fifth-best on the squad last fall.
Sequim’s younger counterparts had some success last fall with the junior varsity team going 9-5 and C-team finishing 10-3.
Those younger players get a boost, Webber Heilman said, with the addition of a volunteer coach. Mark Knutson, a new teacher at Sequim High who volunteered to be a C-team assistant. Last year’s Wolves had a C-team but not a dedicated coach and Webber Heilman noted that should help the program retain most of the 30-plus crowd that turned out for the team.
Still, the Sequim head coach expects Sequim to be in quite a battle for league wins, particularly early on.
“It’s going to be a struggle for sure,” Webber Heilman said. “We’re going to have to pull together to get it done.”
The Wolves opened the 2015 season with a home, non-league match against Thomas Jefferson on Sept. 8 and host a jamboree on Sept. 9. Sequim plays host to league rival North Mason on Sept. 17 and is at Kingston on Sept. 22.
