Wolverines Start Strong!
Strong hitting, great fan support spur comeback victory over Stanwood
Varsity Action vs. Stanwood
The BHS Wolverines kicked off their 2016 season with an out of conference home game against the Stanwood Spartans. The Wolverines return 12 varsity players from last year’s team that missed the district playoffs by just one game. The Wolverines have a new coach this year, Vance Kalingo, who was an assistant on last year’s team.
The Wolverines earned an early 6-5 lead in game one featuring 3 early kills by junior Holly Huard. But, the rest of the first game was all Spartans as they ran away from the Wolverines to win 25-11. Game 2 was a different story as the BHS crowd started to get into the game. A group of about 30 students got the girls pumped up and out to a 8-4 lead behind a couple more Huard kills. After SHS tied it up at 9, the Wolverines went on a 5 point run behind Junior Alexis Khuu on the service line. Khuu had 2 aces during the run that ended in a SHS timeout. The Spartans came back behind 6’2” Sophomore outside hitter, Devon Martinka, who got on an impressive run, and took what looked to be an insurmountable 22-19 lead and a near certain 2-0 commanding lead. But after a timely BHS timeout, Junior Callie Weber had a clean kill earning a side out. After a back and forth side out exchange, Alexis Khuu got to the service line down 21-23. Khuu’s serves had the Spartans scrambling and after a ball that just landed out for SHS, the Wolverines took a 24-23 lead and Khuu served it out to tie the match at a game apiece.
The Wolverines kept the momentum going surging out to a 12-4 lead behind a thunderous Huard kill. The Spartans clawed back to get to 18-14 before Weber took over with 3 quick kills. The final point of the game came courtesy of Sophomore Naomi Chen-Mallouk with a block at the net followed by a perfectly placed tip for the game point. The Wolverines really found their groove with some great back row defense by Senior Emily Burns, Junior Sophia Knapp, and Weber.
In Game 4, Alexis Khuu continued her hot serving getting the Wolverines out to a 5-1 lead behind 2 aces and a timely Weber block. The Wolverines started setting Weber in the back row which proved troublesome for the Spartans. SHS fought back to 16-13 before a Weber kill followed by another by Junior, Jordan Meyers, and yet another by Huard to go up 18-13. Bump sets by Knapp to Weber in the back row took the lead up to 23-15 during an impressive 6 point service run by Meyers. The Wolverines let the Spartans have a glimmer of hope getting to 24-21 before the Wolverines put the game away when the ball fell into the Spartans net.
The Wolverine’s won 3-1 (11-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21) over a very talented Stanwood squad. The student section and the Wolverine bench were keys to the victory with the energy they brought in that second game and maintained through the end of the match. Alexis Khuu had a great match setting the ball and behind the service line (5 aces). The Wolverines also got key contributions from senior Emily Kowalski, Sophomore Jenna Keenan (3 kills) making her varsity debut, Junior Natalie Moselle, and Junior Liv Sergeeff. Unofficial stats credit Weber with 14 kills followed by Huard with 8. The Wolverines get back on the court tomorrow night at Sammamish High School.
JV and C Teams Lose Heartbreakers
Solid all-around efforts fall short against Stanwood
The JV and C teams had parallel experiences on Tuesday afternoon between 5:30 and 6:30pm. Unfortunately, both ended in close losses to the Stanwood Spartans.
In the JV match, the Wolverines broke open a tight first game with a 7-point serving run by Julia Bray to take a 16-10 lead, then held on with timely hitting from Claire Surbeck, Hannah Geffe, and Bray to close out the game 25-19. The Spartans bounced back and jumped out to an early lead in game 2 that they never relinquished, despite a serving run by Lauren Gorder and strong play in the middle from Katie Sorrell. The Spartans won game 2, 25-21.
The Wolverines seemed to have the 3rd and deciding game under control at 10-5, behind strong hitting from Meghan Weber and Haley Cook as well as great defense from libero Carly Burns, but the Spartans hung tough and slowly fought back to tie the score at 14-14. Two hard-fought points later, the Spartans had taken the match at 16-14. Overall, it was a very solid first outing for the JV team, including many assists from setters Bridget Conroy, Natalie Hayes, and Meghan Weber.
The C game saw two very well-matched teams pitted against each other in an early season duel. Bellevue started out strong with a 25-16 win, but was not able to hold on as the Spartans came back and took games 2 and 3, 25-22 and 15-10. In a brief post-game interview, Coach Loretta said she was extremely pleased with the team's effort and impressed with the skill level she witnessed in the first match of the season.
JV/C Action vs. Stanwood