Volleyball: Vikings end Wolves’ season in district consolation final

Both teams had good runs at the District 2/3 2A tournament last week, but the Port Angeles and Sequim volleyball squads fell just short of qualifying for the state 2A tournament.

Sequim came particularly close, coming within one set of making it, but the Wolves caught a bit of bad luck when No. 1-ranked North Kitsap ended up in their way in the consolation bracket on Nov. 12. Port Angeles also found its path to state blocked by a high seed (No. 3 Sammamish).

Still, Sequim (13-7) came close to finally knocking off the Vikings. North Kitsap had beaten Sequim three times earlier this year, but had to go five sets to get past the Wolves 3-2 (26-24, 25-21, 25-27, 21-25, 15-9).

North Kitsap (18-2) went into the tournament ranked No. 1, but was upset in the first round by No. 8 Fife, which went on to finish second in the tournament. That unexpectedly put the Vikings in the consolation bracket.

“It was an amazing match,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber Heilman said. “It was amazing how well our girls played. It was stressful, but I’m so proud of them.”

Kendall Hastings led the Wolves with 28 kills, six stuff blocks and 18 digs. Jolene Vaara had 13 digs and Angel Wagner 12 digs.

No. 4 Sequim lost its first round match on Nov. 11 in a close battle with No. 5 White River 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 27-25). Hastings led the team with 15 kills and five blocks; she, Vaara and Sydney Hegvedt had 11 digs each. Vaara added five blocks.

Later that day, the Wolves beat Orting 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-23) to set up the North Kitsap match.

Against Orting, Vaara had a seven-point serving streak in the first game and finished with a team-high three aces. Hastings paced the offense with 16 kills, while Sydney Clark chipped in with 18-of-19 serving with two aces and a team-high 15 assists.

Port Angeles (13-8), the district’s No. 10 seed, had to win three loser-out matches to qualify for state and nearly pulled it off. The Roughriders on Nov. 11 came from behind to beat No. 15 Clover Park 3-2 (20-25, 25-16, 19-25, 25-16, 15-3), then beat No. 7 Foster 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 23-25, 25-22), before finally falling to Sammamish 3-1 (22-25, 25-11, 25-16, 25-17) on Nov. 12.

No. 2 seed Washington won the district tournament. Washington, Fife, White River, Enumclaw, North Kitsap and Sammamish all move on to state.