The Wolverine varsity squad put its perfect 4-0 record on the line Monday night against cross-town rivals, the Saints from Interlake.

 

Interlake travelled several students down Bel-Red road to cheer on their team and it helped their girls jump out to an early lead in game one. Junior Holly Huard tried to keep it close as she scored 3 early kills and an ace to close it to 6-8. But, that was the closest the Wolverines would get as the Saints, behind their 6’3” middle hitter Nicole Kramer and some very good serving, took game one 21-25.

 

Game 2 was looking a lot like game 1 as Interlake got out to a 1-3 lead. The Wolverines clawed back and with Senior Ally Witham serving got back to back to back kills from Huard, Sophomore Naomi Chen-Mallouk, and Junior setter, Alexis Khuu, to make the score to 10-7. Behind a couple of kills from Junior Callie Weber, BHS stretched the lead to 14-9. Interlake fought their way back to a 19-19 tie game. After a BHS side out, Junior Sophia Knapp, took the ball behind the service line and wasn’t going to give it back without a fight. A Weber block made it 22-19 followed by a block by Sophomore Jenna Kennan to make it 23-19. Keenan then backed it up with a kill for 24-19.  Knapp finished off the game with a serve that came back and was set perfectly from Khuu to Weber for the dagger and the 25-19 victory.

 

The third game was a similar refrain with BHS falling behind 1-4. After a Weber ace, Witham got going with back to back kills to fight back to a 5-5 tie. The game went back and forth and was knotted up at 14-14 when our middle hitters got going. A Keenan kill was shortly followed by a Chen-Mallouk kill to give BHS a 18-15 lead in the pivotal game three. After an Interlake time out, Witham served and ace and after a long rally, Huard killed it off to take a 20-16 lead. The Wolverines stretched the lead to 22-16 before the Saints got those points right back and at 22-20, and coach Kalingo took a time out. BHS had Knapp behind the service line again with the game on the line. A Chen-Mallouk kill was followed by a Weber kill, and then the game was finished off with a Keenan kill for a 25-21 win and a 2-1 match lead.

 

Bellevue finally got off to a stronger start in the fourth game of the match.  A Khuu kill and back to back Khuu aces led to a 3-1 Wolverine advantage.  After Interlake climbed back, Keenan got a kill to make it 5-5 and then an ace to make it 6-5. At 7-6, Knapp set Weber in the back row for a kill down the pipe. At 7-7, Huard took the serve which led to a Mallouk-Chen tip. Up 8-7, Huard served up back to back fastballs for aces followed by a changeup that caught Interlake sleeping for another ace. The longest rally of the night featured a couple of great digs by Senior, Emily Burns, that finally lead to a BHS point to take a commanding 15-8 lead. But, Interlake wasn’t done and a couple of rotation errors from the Wolverines didn’t help and the score was closed to 19-16. After a Huard kill, Witham had yet another ace to stretch the lead to 21-16. Mallouk-Chen had back to back kills to take the lead to 23-18. But, BHS had a little trouble closing it out with Interlake closing the gap at 24-22. Weber put the ball, and the match, away with another emphatic spike to take the game 25-22. The Wolverine serving was very problematic for the Saints as BHS had 8 aces in the deciding 4th game and take the match 21-15, 25-19, 25-21, 25-22. The Wolverines played their best ball of the year with excellent serving, solid defense in the back, and excellent offense triggered by setter, Alexis Khuu, and finished off by all in the front row.

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The JV and C teams again displayed the depth of the Wolverine volleyball program with straight-set victories over the Saints.  The JV team won 25-18, 25-13, and 15-13.  The third game featured some dominant serving from Sophomore Sailor Anicker as the Wolverines fought back from a 12-5 deficit to complete the sweep.  The C team extended its game winning streak to 12 with a 25-14, 25-23, 15-6 victory.

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The Wolverines face their toughest test of the year taking the short drive across the bridge to take on the league favorites, the Mercer Island Islanders, on Wednesday night.  We hope to see you there!

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Varsity Stats Leaders, Interlake Match

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Aces:        Keenan 3, Huard 3

Kills:         Weber 20, Huard 10, Witham 7, Chen-Mallouk 7, Keenan 5

Digs:        Knapp 19, Burns 13, Witham 13

Blocks:     Keenan 5

Assists:    Khuu 44