PORT ANGELES — The playoff-bound Port Angeles Roughriders volleyball team wasn’t able to pull off a regular-season win, falling 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 26-24, 24-26, 15-13) in a marathon 5-set, 217-point match to Olympic, but they still had a remarkable turnaround this season.
The Roughriders came into the 2019 season having gone a painful 1-28 the past two years. They responded with a 7-7 season, going 6-6 in league and finishing fourth, qualifying for the Olympic League 2A Division playoffs. In Monday night’s back-and-forth game against Olympic, the Riders came within two points of finishing the regular season with a winning record.
That turnaround came in coach Jennifer Reynolds’ first season at the helm.
“They’re ready for the playoffs,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds stressed that this year, the team learned about the value of playing for each other. “They not playing for me,” she said. The willingness to sacrifice for their teammates and not care about who is getting the statistics, “that’s been our whole mantra for the season.”
“It’s such a joy seeing them get excited for each other,” Reynolds said.
Junior Ava Brenkman was on the Riders for the past two tough seasons. She said the team’s attitude was vastly improved this year and it started before the season even began with players determined to be more team-oriented.
“It was a great comeback. This season we’re a team,” Brenkman said. “It’s a whole new atmosphere, a whole new team this year.”
Another big plus for the Riders is this is still a young team. Port Angeles only loses two seniors — Marie Burns and McKenzie Musalek — getting everyone else back next year.
Port Angeles’ Jaida Wood, right, battles at the net against Olympic. Wood led the Roughriders in kills with 10 in Monday’s match. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Monday’s match
Monday’s regular-season finale with the Trojans easily could have gone either way. Reynolds said it came down a handful of mistakes by the Riders.
“Unforced errors, hitting ball long, missed serves,” she said.
Olympic, which is out of the playoff hunt but was a much taller team than the Riders with some big hitters, came out determined and took Game 1 relatively easily at 25-17.
The Riders bounced back in Game 2, with the game tied at 22-22. Jaida Wood, who had a great match at the outside hitter position, got a spike for a point, then Camille Stensgard got two straight aces on serves that were tucked barely inside the back line to close out the game 25-22 for the Riders.
The Trojans came back to win Game 3 26-24 in a game that neither team ever held a lead of more than three points.
The Riders looked like they would cruise to an easy win in Game 4, getting up 19-10 after a Stensgard tip and a Wood tip for a pair of points. But Olympic came roaring back, going on a 12-2 run to take a lead at 22-21. At that point, the Riders were three points away from losing the match.
The Roughrider girls showed a lot of resiliency bouncing back from the Trojans’ big run. Lily Halberg got an ace on a serve, Brenkman and Zoe Smithson stuffed a block for a point, when Smithson picked up two straight points on kills as the Riders won it 26-24, forcing a Game 5.
Game 5 was tight down the stretch as it was tied 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, 12-12 and 13-13. The Trojans were able to get the final two points of the match to finally end it.
Wood led the Riders with 10 kills while Kennedy Bruch,a high-flying sophomore, had seven kills. Stensgard served 25 for 25 with four aces. Musalek and Brenkman each had six kills.
Port Angeles’ playoffs begin Saturday. The Riders will begin by playing Olympic League 2A champion North Kitsap in their first match at Bremerton High School at 9 a.m. The league tournament is basically for seeding. The four teams from the league tourney move on the West Central 3 2A Tournament at either North Mason or Franklin Pierce high schools on Nov. 7 with teams from the Olympic League and the South Puget Sound League participating.
