TACOMA — Rivals Port Angeles and Sequim faced off with their volleyball seasons on the line at Franklin Pierce High School.
Winner goes to state, loser sits home next week.
In the battle for the 2A West Central District’s fifth and last state tournament berth, the Roughriders won in five sets 25-17, 23-25, 24-26, 25-20, 15-6.
Port Angeles will open the state tournament against Capital on Friday morning at Pierce College Fort-Steilacoom in Lakewood.
The Riders and Wolves were each playing their third matches of the day, and Port Angeles’ fourth match in a little more than 24 hours.
Port Angeles opened with a convincing 25-17 win in the first set.
“The girls came out on fire with tons of energy and excitement in game one,” Riders coach Christine Halberg said following Saturday night’s match.
“They knew what they wanted and never doubted they would get it. We had very few unforced errors. We passed and hit the ball well.”
Sequim coach Jennie Webber Heilman said the Wolves had a hard time adjusting to the Riders after playing power-hitting teams, Fife and then White River, earlier in the day.
“We were blocking well against White River, but we couldn’t keep it up [against Port Angeles],” Webber Heilman said.
“P.A. tips it a lot, but it still needs to be blocked. We only had four stuff blocks [in the match].”
But the Wolves answered with two hard-fought, neck-and-neck wins in the second and third games, 25-23 and 26-24, to take a 2-1 lead.
“We kind of did that all season,” Webber Heilman said.
“It was kind of frustrating. We would play well, then we wouldn’t play well.”
With Port Angeles trailing 24-21 in the third set, senior Kendra Harvey served three straight points to tie the game at 24.
The Wolves pulled out the win by scoring the next two points.
“We played too tentative at the end and needed to find a way to put the ball away,” Halberg said.
“But we learned from that and took control at the end of game four, where Kendra again finished the set by serving four straight serves.”
Then it came down to the final set, with first team to score 15 points goes to state.
The Riders jumped out to a quick lead.
“They scored something like the first six points. When you’re only going to 15, that doesn’t help,” Webber Heilman said.
Port Angeles held their lead to take the match.
“Game five felt very similar to game one where we had momentum and energy and nothing could stop us,” Halberg said.
“The girls played with enthusiasm and had fun.
“Madison [Hinrichs] had three kills that went straight down untouched, thanks to a perfect pass and quick set.
“The fans and the bench were very effective in helping us create energy.”
It was the second time the Riders and Wolves played to a fifth set this season, with Port Angeles winning both matches. Sequim won the other two times the teams played by scores of 3-0 and 3-1.
Fifth-set letdowns plagued the Wolves all season, as they went 0-6 in matches that went the distance.
“We’ve never had that before,” Webber Heilman said.
Six of their seven losses this year were in five-set matches.
Webber Heilman said the Riders ran their offense better.
“They were just hitting better than we were at the end,” she said.
“You can’t depend on defense to keep getting digs, you need to have some offense.”
After beating Evergreen in a loser-out game Friday night in five sets, Port Angeles began Saturday with a four-set loss to Sumner.
Then, they swept host Franklin Pierce to set up the matchup with Sequim.
The Wolves (12-7), meanwhile, didn’t play Friday due to their second-place finish in the Olympic League tournament.
They opened with a five-game loss to Fife 25-16, 19-25, 14-25, 25-22, 15-11.
The Trojans had a big hitter, but once Sequim made some adjustments, it was a “battle to the end,” Webber Heilman said.
Unfortunately, for the Wolves, Fife happened be in its strongest rotation at the end of games four and five.
As a team, Sequim served an amazing 86 for 91, including a perfect 25 for 25 by Emma LeBlanc. Hannah Hudson was 16/17 with a team-high four aces.
Hudson also had 23 digs and 25 perfect passes.
A win over Fife would have guaranteed Sequim a state berth, but instead the Wolves moved onto the consolation bracket where they would battle four teams for the fifth spot at state.
They started fast against White River, and held on to win in four sets 25-16, 24-26, 25-22, 25-19.
“We came out strong,” Heilman said.
Rylie Roberts had a six-point serving run in the first game and a seven-point run in the second game. For the match, Roberts served 18/19 with two aces.
Hudson, a senior libero, was 21/22 serving. She also made 15 perfect passes and had 26 digs.
In three matches Saturday, Hudson had 77 digs to anchor Sequim’s defense.
“Hannah’s defense was amazing the whole tournament,” Webber Heilman said.
“She’s the best defensive player we’ve had [at Sequim] in a long time.”
Hudson also had 65 perfect passes.
She is one of four departing seniors for the Wolves, who surpassed expectations by finishing second in the Olympic League after losing valuable players such as Haleigh Harrison and Taylor Balkan from last year’s district-champion team.
Other seniors are Lex Besand, Vanessa Martinez and Kate Harker.
But the Sequim will bring back a handful of juniors, including Alyse Armstrong, Caitlin Stofferahn and Emily Wallner, as well as sophomores Roberts and Sydney Munn.
Webber Heilman inserted Munn into the rotation in the second set against Port Angeles, and she contributed eight kills and two perfect passes.
STATISTICS
Port Angeles 3, Sequim 2
25-17, 23-25, 24-26, 25-20, 15-6
Port Angeles
Holli Williams 40 assists, 1 block, 19 digs, served 19/20 with 2 aces, 1 kill; Maddy Hinrichs 14 kills, served 18/19 with 2 aces, 28 digs; Kendra Harvey 30 digs, served 24/24, 1 assist; Bailee Jones 10 kills, served 15/16 with 1 ace, 1 dig; Brittany Norberg 10 kills, 1 dig, 1 block; Nizhoni Wheeler 6 kills, 3 digs, 3 blocks.
Sequim
Alyse Armstrong 11/12 serving with 1 ace, 3 pefect passes, 8 kills, 19 assissts, 1 stuff block, 4 digs; Caitlin Stofferahn 7 kills, 3 stuff blocks; Emily Wallner 6/8 serving, 5 perfect passes, 6 kills, 21 assists, 4 digs; Emma LeBlanc 17/17 serving with 4 aces, 3 perfect passes, 14 digs; Hannah Hudson 15/16 serving, 25 perfect passes 28 digs; Kate Harker 10 kills, 2 digs; Katie Stevenson 3/3 serving; Kylee Salazar 0/1 serving, 4 digs; Lex Besand 12/15 serving with 3 aces, 11 perfect passes, 7 kills, 10 digs; Rylie Roberts 1 kill, 4 digs; Sydney Munn 2 perfect passes, 8 kills; Vanessa Martinez 14/16 serving with 3 aces, 1 dig.
Port Angeles 3, Franklin Pierce 0
25-13, 25-19, 25-18
Port Angeles
Jones 9 kills, served 5/6, 6 blocks, 2 assists, 1 dig; Williams 21 assists, 2 blocks, 9 digs, served 16/16 with 3 aces, 3 kills; Hinrichs 8 kills, served 5/7 with 1 ace, 1 block, 11 digs; Kendra Harvey 11 digs, served 11/11 with 1 ace, 1 assist; Brittany Norberg 5 kills, 2 blocks; Sarah Steinman served 11/11, 1 kill, 2 blocks, 10 digs.
Sumner 3, Port Angeles 1
25-21, 25-15, 20-25, 26-24
Port Angeles
Hinrichs 10 kills, served 10/11, 22 digs, 2 blocks; Jones 8 kills, served 14/15, 4 digs, 2 blocks; Harvey 24 digs, served 14/14, 1 assists; Williams 23 assists, 15 digs, served 17/19 with 4 aces, 2 kills; Norberg 6 kills, served 11/11,
1 block.
Fife 3, Sequim 2
25-16, 19-25, 14-25, 25-22, 15-11
Sequim
Armstrong 16/18 serving with 2 aces, 3 perfect passes, 10 kills, 20 assists, 3 stuff blocks, 5 digs; Stofferahn 4 kills, 2 stuff blocks; Wallner 9/9 serving with 1 ace, 5 perfect passes, 2 kills, 15 assists, 1 stuff block, 10 digs; LeBlanc 25/25 serving with 3 aces, 2 perfect passes, 15 digs; Hudson 16/17 serving with 4 aces, 25 perfect passes, 23 digs; Harker 12 kills, 2 stuff blocks, 1 dig; Salazar 2 kills, 5 digs; Besand 14/15 serving with 1 ace, 12 perfect passes, 8 kills, 1 stuff block, 17 digs; Munn 1 kill, 1 dig; Martinez 6/7 serving with 2 aces.
Sequim 3, White River 1
25-16, 24-26, 25-22, 25-19
Sequim
Armstrong 21/23 serving with 2 aces, 1 perfect pass, 8 kills, 16 assists, 2 stuff blocks, 9 digs; Stofferahn 3 kills, 4 stuff blocks; Wallner 6/6 serving with 1 ace, 2 perfect passes, 9 kills, 12 assists, 2 stuff blocks, 11 digs; LeBlanc 9/9 serving, 4 perfect passes, 13 digs; Hudson 21/22 serving with 1 ace, 15 perfect passes, 1 assist, 26 digs; Harker 1/1 serving, 4 perfect passes, 10 kills, 6 stuff blocks; Stevenson 5/5 serving with 4 aces, 4 digs; Salazar 1 perfect pass, 3 kills, 6 digs; Besand 3/4 serving with 2 aces, 2 perfect passes, 9 kills, 1 stuff block, 4 digs; Roberts 18/19 serving with 2 aces, 2 perfect passes, 5 digs; Munn 0/2 serving, 1 kill.
