PORT ANGELES — The match didn’t count in the Olympic League standings.
But for the Port Angeles volleyball team, it was quite the opening statement.
Senior setter Emily Drake spread the ball around to a stable of hitters, and the Roughriders overwhelmed reigning Olympic League champion North Kitsap for a 25-16, 25-23, 25-23 win Thursday night.
The last of four “nonleague” matches against league foes, the victory was Port Angeles’ fourth in a row to begin the season.
And paired with last Thursday’s 3-1 triumph over Sequim — the 2010 runners-up — the Riders declared themselves as the team to beat in the Olympic League this fall.
“We talked a little bit [before the match] about how it doesn’t count, but it counts,” Port Angeles coach Christine Halberg said.
“It counts for our confidence. It counts because we haven’t beat them before, so it was big in that sense for us to believe.
“Last year we were good, but we didn’t have the confidence that we were that good. For us to have now beaten Sequim and North Kitsap, hopefully we can believe that and know that.”
Front-line power
The Riders’ depth up front proved to be too much for reigning Olympic League MVP Sarah Baugh and the Vikings on Thursday night.
Drake dished out 36 assists and sparked the Riders with a critical 8-0 service run in the first game that set the tone for the match.
Just as importantly, Drake kept the Viking blockers guessing by distributing the ball all over the court.
Four Rider hitters ended up with four kills or more, led by Kiah Jones’ 18-kill, 11-dig performance.
Teammate Danielle Rutherford and Autumn Ruddick each added six kills apiece while Darian Foley had four kills and Bailee Jones four blocks.
“I thought we played really well together as a team,” Drake said. “We were pretty nervous for it, but I think that we took it really well.
“We spread the offense out really well.”
Baugh was impressive in the loss for the Vikings, with the future Boise State product finishing with 15 kills, 11 assists and three aces.
But her individual brilliance, combined with a 10-kill showing from Meaghan Houser, wasn’t enough to overcome a Port Angeles team that won nearly every scramble and had a devastating weapon of its own in Kiah Jones.
“I think that we, overall, all are a little bit stronger [than North Kitsap],” Halberg said.
“We can match Sarah and Kiah up a little bit, but I think that our other hitters are dominating as well. We’re able to go to other people other than just Kiah, and they can put it down for a kill.
“Our other hitters were the difference in beating them.”
Drake’s 8-0 service run in the first game gave the Riders a 21-14 edge they would ride to an early 1-0 advantage.
North Kitsap appeared to take control of the second game after moving out to a 10-5 lead.
But the Riders responded with six straight points — two on Kendra Harvey aces — for a 12-10 lead.
The two exchanged leads twice the rest of the game until the Riders eventually claimed it with a 4-1 run punctuated by an out-of-bounds North Kitsap serve.
The Vikings would add five more service errors in the third game, canceling out a subpar Rider service effort that had seven errors itself between the second and third games.
Port Angeles went ahead by as many as five points in the third, before Rutherford eventually closed the door with a powerful slam at the net that bounced off two North Kitsap blockers and fell to the gym floor.
“We knew Port Angeles was really going to be tough this year, and they were,” North Kitsap coach Tim French said. “Christine has done a really good job with them.
“They were kind of what we expected them to be. I think we could have given them a better game if our serve-receive was stronger, and serves.”
Port Angeles next heads to the South Whidbey Invitational on Saturday before starting Olympic League play at Kingston on Tuesday.
