The Bellevue Wolverine program made a strong showing in Kirkland last night, sweeping the Varsity, JV, and C games while only losing one set. lt's the second straight sweep for the Wolverines and the third straight victory by the varsity squad to start the season.  

 

Lake Washington is a team that had Bellevue's number last year and knocked BHS varsity out of the playoffs to end the season. LW graduated much of their team but they have a solid program so it was destined to be a battle.

 

The highlight of the first set was when Ally Witham made an amazing foot save when the score was just 4-3. The ref blew the call and had to call a replay. BHS rolled out to a 20-10 lead behind solid play and 3 Holly Huard kills before LW came back to make it a nail biter at 23-21. Up 24-22 LW earned a side out at 24-23. But, LW served it wild to give Bellevue a 25-23 game 1 victory.

 

Game 2 started with the Kangaroos on the front foot. They took a 4-0 lead and never relinquished. The closest we got was 14-15 after a Huard to Alexis Khuu to Huard give and go before LW took charge and closed it out for a 25-20 win.

 

Game 3 started with Khuu behind the service line and she made them pay. She got the Wolverines out to a 7-0 behind 3 huge aces. BHS was never challenged in game 3 as the back row defense of Sophia Knapp and Emily Burns got everything up and Khuu set Callie Weber to put points away. BHS took the game 25-16.

 

The pivotal game 4 started with a Jenna Kennan kill from the middle to put us up 2-0. Huard had key kills at 4-4 and again at 7-6 to give the Wolverines a slim lead. LW went on a mini run before Weber put away a kill at 9-10. On the next point, Knapp had a great dig that Khuu set to Weber for a big kill to tie it at 10’s. Weber had an ace to bring us to 12-11 and Huard made the kill to take it to 13-11. Senior Ally Witham, making her 2016 debut, had a key kill from the right side to take the lead to 14-12 followed by block by Keenan to make it 15-12. LW made a solid run to take the score to 15-16, but that’s when Junior Mina Dedijer made her mark with a kill to make it 16-16. Mina put the next one away as well to make it 17-16. LW got a free ball on the next point and had a big spike that was dug by Knapp, set by Khuu, and put away by Huard to make it 18-16. At this point, the crowd was very much into the game. Huard slammed the next one to go up 19-16. After a couple of LW points, Dedijer made a great tip to the sideline to put us up 20-18. Another Dedijer kill made it 21-19 to give BHS a side out at put Knapp behind the service line. Knapp aced the next 2 serves to go up 23-19. Another well placed Knapp serve scrambled LW and lead to a Wolverine free ball that was set perfectly from Khuu to Weber for a monster slam. Up 24-19, Knapp served again to a tough spot that caused an Kangaroo overpass which Kennan slammed back to the floor to seal the deal and close it out 25-19.

​

The strong offensive and defensive effort was led by Weber (14 kills), Huard (9 kills) and Dedijer (6 kills), with Weber, Knapp, and Burns combining for 46 digs.  Alexis Khuu floated 32 assists while leading the team in aces with 6.  

 

The JV and C teams both won their matches as well, taking each match in two sets before playing a third set for posterity.  The JV team won 25-19 and 25-12, while the C team won 25-17 and 25-10.  The JV match featured strong serving runs by Hannah Geffe, Kelly Treves, and Haley Cook to break open each game.