Four extra matches at season’s end didn’t change much for the top four Olympic League volleyball squads.
Instead, it reaffirmed that the purple and gold-clad squads from North Kitsap and Sequim are the league’s best shots at getting through this weekend’s West Central District in Tacoma and on to state.
North Kitsap (16-0) swept past Bremerton and Sequim at the Olympic League tourney on Nov. 1, while Sequim’s Wolves (13-3) split their games and will take the league’s No. 2 seed to districts.
Sequim faces White River (10-5) at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7, at Franklin Pierce High School, in the district tourney’s first round.
The winner advances to the quarterfinals to play the winner of the Highline/Liberty-Issaquah at 7 p.m., also at Franklin Pierce High, while the losing squad has to fight for a state berth from the consolation bracket.
“I think (our chances) are good if we can win that first game,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber Heilman said.
On Saturday, Sequim swept Olympic in three games. Emily Wallner had five kills and eight assists, pacing a balanced attack that saw six Wolves get at least two kills. Alyse Armstrong had three kills and a team-high 10 assists.
Maddie Potts led the Wolves with 16-of-19 serving and eight of the team’s 13 aces. Emma Leblanc led the defense with nine digs. She was 11-of-12 serving.
In the league finale, Sequim fell to regular season champion North Kitsap, 25-17, 29-27 and 25-23.
Wallner was 19-of-21 serving with three aces and added 10 assists while Armstrong led the offense with five kills — tied with Rylie Roberts for the team lead — and 14 assists. Ella Christensen had four kills.
LeBlanc had 22 digs. Potts and Megan Breckenridge had two stuff blocks each.
“They have a rotation where they have a fairly strong lineup,” Webber Heilman said of the Vikings. “The first set, we were trying to get in the groove.
“We were battling back and forth the whole time. We were up (in the second game) by six points (but got caught in a bad rotation) — things we cannot do when we get to districts,” she said.
