BREMERTON — Michael and Marcus Konopaski of Port Angeles captured third place at the West Central District boys tennis tournament on Saturday and advance to the state championships.
The district tourney was held at the Bremerton Athletic Club on Friday and Saturday.
“Marcus and Michael had a great tournament,” Port Angeles coach Brian Gundersen said.
“There are no easy matches at districts, and I thought they played their best tennis of the year.
“I’m excited about our finish and am looking forward to taking them to the state tournament in the spring.”
At districts, the Roughrider duo started day two in the semifinals, losing 6-0, 6-2 to the eventual champions from Lindbergh High School in Renton.
The Konopaskis rebounded in their next match, defeating the top team from Sumner 6-3, 6-3 to claim third place in the 12-team tournament.
Boys Tennis
West Central District
at Bremerton
Semifinals
Kwiatkowski/Bayna, Lindbergh, defeated Michael and Marcus Konopaski, Port Angeles, 6-0, 6-2.
Third-fifth seed match
Michael and Marcus Konopaski, PA, defeated Walsh/Fordice, Sumner, 6-3, 6-3.
Volleyball
Sequim is No. 1
SEQUIM — The Wolves can punch their ticket to state by winning their first match at the West Central District championships at Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma on Saturday morning.
Sequim could be playing archrival Port Angeles in that go-to-state match that starts at 10 a.m.
The Roughriders, the No. 5 Olympic League seed, opens district play against White River on Friday at 5 p.m. at Franklin Pierce. That winner faces Sequim on Saturday.
The Wolves, the No. 1 Olympic League seed, received a bye in the first round after winning the league seeding tournament Saturday at Sequim High School.
Sequim beat Olympic 3-1 in the semifinals and North Kitsap 3-0 in the championship match.
The Wolves started on fire against the Vikings and never let up.
“We started out well,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber-Heilman said.
Rylleigh Zbaraschuk served seven points in a row, and then Emma LeBlanc adding 11 straight points.
Hannah Hudson played strong defense with 14 digs and five perfect passes while Haleigh Harrison (12 kills), Lex Besand (seven kills) and Caitlin Stofferahn (five kills) dominating at the net.
Harrison added four blocks that stopped the Vikings’ hitting.
Setter Taylor Balkan had 27 assists.
The Wolves had a rougher match, especially at the start, against Olympic.
“We started out a little slow but Emma [LeBlanc] had a run of 12 serves in a row to get us a huge lead,” Webber-Heilman said.
LeBlanc also played well on defense, earning 13 digs.
Harrison was the offensive leader again, with the aid of Balkan’s setting, with 18 kills.
Besand added eight kills, followed by Kate Harker’s four kills and Katelynne McDaniels’ three kills to help spread out the offense.
Harrison (13 digs) and Zbaraschuk (12 digs) were playing tough defense.
“We let up in the third game and let them take a game off of us, but we turned it around in the fourth when Rylleigh served 10 points in a row with two aces, and Haleigh adding seven kills,” Webber-Heilman said.
Football
Port Townsend crossover game
PORT TOWNSEND — The Redskins will host Nooksack Valley in a Nisqually League crossover game this Friday night.
The game starts at 6 p.m. at Memorial Field.
Girls Soccer
Sequim in playoffs
SEQUIM — The Wolves will host Orting in a loser-out West Central District play-in game Wednesday.
The game, set for the high school, starts at 1:30 p.m.
