SEQUIM — The Port Angeles volleyball team is unbeaten, yet unnoticed.
If the Roughriders can keeping winning like they did in Tuesday night’s Olympic League matchup against Sequim, that might not last too long.
Port Angeles overcame a late Sequim surge to beat its archrival for the third straight time 25-23, 25-16, 24-26, 25-22 at a raucous Rick Kaps Gymnasium.
Senior Kiah Jones slammed home 26 kills and teammate Emily Drake dished out 46 assists to help the Riders claim their 12th straight victory to begin the season.
“I think we’re in a good place now,” said Jones, who also served 16 of 17 with three aces in the win. “We’re really intense in practices.
“We want to win, we just all have that drive right now, so we’re always intense and we’re always pushing to get better every practice.
“Sequim is always good. It’s always a good game, so going out winning my senior year is really important. It’s special.”
Port Angeles (6-0 in league, 12-0 overall) dropped a game in league play for just the second time this season on the way to beating Sequim (4-2, 9-3).
Still, the Riders were able to rebound from the Game 3 setback and rally from an 18-16 deficit in the fourth game to earn their first victory in Sequim in several years.
The win all but assures Port Angeles, which hosts Kingston (4-3, 6-5) in its home finale Thursday, will be playing for the league title when it travels to North Kitsap (6-0, 11-1) next Tuesday.
The Riders already swept eighth-ranked North Kitsap 3-0 in nonleague action earlier this year but still find themselves unranked with just one week to go in the regular season.
“It’s a huge win in a lot of different ways,” said Port Angeles coach Christine Halberg. “Anytime you beat Sequim it’s a huge match, and that’s really our first time beating them in my career on their turf.
“That was really huge in that road to the league championship.”
The Riders took advantage of a handful of Sequim miscues down the stretch — including two service errors in the match’s final six points — to hang on Tuesday night.
They also got big moments from Jones and the rest of their powerful front row players and strong defense from libero Lauren Norton.
That turned out to be enough to trump superb performances from Wolves Haleigh Harrison (19 kills, three blocks, 15-of-15 serving with one ace) and Taylor Balkan (33 assists, 16-of-16 serving with three aces).
“We did fairly well,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber-Heilman said. “I think they were probably working a little harder on defense than we were. That was probably the difference.”
Added Webber-Heilman, “They know they probably have their work cut out for them, but it’s not going to devastate us.”
Port Angeles went down by four points twice in the opening game only to outscore the Wolves 12-6 down the stretch to go up 1-0.
The Riders then took control of Game 2 after Jones scored four straight points on Drake’s serve with three kills and one block to go up 19-14.
They eventually closed out the game with a 6-1 run punctuated by two blocks from Autumn Ruddick and one from Darian Foley — part of a nine-block effort from the Riders on the night.
Ruddick, Foley and Danielle Rutherford each finished with eight kills.
Ruddick also added two blocks up front, while Foley had three aces on 20-of-21 serving.
In all, Port Angeles made just four service errors total while hitting six aces.
“That was a huge plus for us tonight,” Halberg said. “We really worked this week on serving strong and consistent when Kiah goes across out front row, because we need to capitalize when she’s up there.”
Sequim appeared ready to fold in the third game after going down 11-6, but Balkan helped turn the tide with a 5-0 run on serve that included an ace.
With 5-foot-11 middle blocker Katelynne McDaniels also inserted into the rotation, Sequim was also able to start blocking balls at the net.
McDaniels finished with a match-high five blocks.
The two teams battled back and forth the rest of the game before the Wolves won it 26-24 on an Alexas Besand kill and Rider hitting error.
Besand finished with six kills, while Kyla Martin added 11 kills and Hannah Hudson two aces.
“Last time we played them, in three of the games [the Riders] had runs, like huge runs, and they didn’t get any [tonight],” said Webber-Heilman, whose team lost 3-0 to Port Angeles earlier this fall.
“We definitely did not get aced off the court like we did last time.
“We just need to find a little more offense and get some blocks up.”
The Wolves applied some pressure to the Riders in the fourth game, going ahead 18-16.
Drake then fed Rutherford for a kill immediately out of a Port Angeles timeout, and the Wolves committed errors on 2 of the next 3 points to cede all of the momentum.
Sequim, which hosts Olympic on Thursday, eventually lost the match after Marissa Haner’s serve landed past the end line.
It was the 10th service error of the night for the Wolves, who also had nine aces.
“Our intensity dropped a little bit [in the third game], we kind of got complacent,” Jones said.
“But we definitely came out in that fourth game ready to go.”
