POULSBO — Once again, senior twins Marcus and Michael Konopaski of Port Angeles rolled, this time through the Olympic League boys tennis tournament.
The Konopaskis were the top-seeded doubles team in the tournament and they didn’t drop a set on their way to a convincing win in the championship final to the top team from North Kitsap, C.J. Butler and Gus Cardoso, 6-1, 6-2.
“I couldn’t be more proud of their performance so far this season,” Roughriders coach Brian Gundersen said.
“Michael and Marcus have worked really hard and it’s paying off.
“We’re excited to prepare for districts, and I can tell you that Marcus and Michael will be ready.”
The Konopaskis remain undefeated on the season and earned themselves a first round bye at the 2A West Central District tournament Oct. 26-27.
The Riders, along with seven other schools, competed at the Olympic League Tournament on at North Kitsap High School on Wednesday and Thursday for coveted spots in the district tournament.
The top six singles players and top six doubles teams advance to districts.
Two Sequim singles players and one from Port Angeles finished in the top six while two Wolves’ doubles teams also finished in the top six to advance.
Sequim’s Donovan Lee beat Kingston’s Tyler Shuey 6-1, 6-3 for third place, while Isaiah Dewan of Sequim defeated Alex Brown of Port Angeles 6-3, 6-0 for the fifth- and sixth-place spots.
The Sequim doubles team of Brandon Payne and Mathew Richards claimed fourth place while teammates Eli Berg and Saul Nava were sixth.
Payne and Richards lost a three-setter (3-6, 6-1, 6-1) for third-fourth place to Kyle Hamel and Jordan Nick of Kingston while Berg and Nava lost 6-3, 6-4, in the fifth-sixth place match to Tanner Zuber and Jake Zieser of Klahowya.
The Riders had two sophomores finish in the top eight in the singles bracket.
Brown took sixth while teammate Jeremy Choe claimed eighth place.
“To play No. 1 and No. 2 singles as sophomores was pretty impressive, and they saved their best tennis for the league tournament,” Gundersen said.
“There are big things in their future.”
The Riders were also represented at the tournament by doubles team Daniel Manwell and Kevin Herzog, as well as singles player Nick Fritschler.
The singles title was won by Jerry Landrum of Klahowya, who defeated his teammate Drew Fagan 6-2, 6-0.
Volleyball
Sequim 3,
Olympic 1
SEQUIM — The Wolves remained on top of the Olympic League standings with a perfect 5-0 league record (10-1 overall) with the home victory Thursday night.
The Wolves lost the first match but then took off by the scores of 19-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-13.
“We started out the firstgame slow and then we missed a bunch of serves,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber-Heilman said.
“Second game we served better with Emma [LeBlanc] serving six points in a row. Our offense was hitting better and scored more kills.
“Our serve-receive improved, too.
“In the third game, we started missing serves again, eight total, but we were saved by serve-receive and defense.
“We played much better in the last game. Haleigh [Harrison] had six kills while Taylor [Balkan] had a five-point serving run.”
LeBlanc was the defensive leader of the match with 15 digs while Harrison owned the net with 17 kills and four stuff blocks. Kate Harker and Lex Besand helped with six kills each.
Balkan, the setter, led serving by making 16 of 18 serves, and she had four aces. Harrison added three aces.
Balkan also had a match-high 39 assists.
“Taylor did a great job of getting good sets out of poor passes,” Webber-Heilman said.
The Wolves next play at Port Townsend on Tuesday night.
Klahowya 3,
Port Angeles 2
SILVERDALE — The Eagles beat the Roughriders in the Olympic League shootout by the scores of 25-13, 23-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-10.
“[Thursday night] was a very fun and exciting match,” Port Angeles coach Christine Halberg said.
“The girls started out slow and gave Klahowya too many points.
“When the girls decided to play with emotion and excitement, things started to change. The momentum went back and forth constantly each game.
“It was fun for everybody, including players, coaches and fans.”
Middle blocker Bailee Jones led the Riders with 10 kills and two blocks at the net, and 14 of 14 serving with four digs in the back court while setter Holli Williams distributed 29 assists and she had 13 digs and eight serving aces.
Other highlights included 19 digs, two aces and two kills by libero Kendra Harvey, and 18 digs, eight kills, 16 of 16 serving and an ace by outside hitter Madison Hinrichs.
Outside hitter Alyssa Wetzler, meanwhile, had seven digs, two kills, one ace and a block.
The Riders are now 3-3 in league and 4-6 overall.
Port Angeles next will host North Mason on Tuesday.
Forks 3, Tenino 0
TENINO — The Spartans handled Tenino in three sets with scores of 25-12, 25-20 and 25-17 in SWL-Evergreen Division play.
Casey Williams led Forks at the net with nine kills and two blocks while setter Jillian Raben dished out 18 assists and had an ace and two kills.
In other highlights, Erin Weekes earned five assists with four kills and one serving ace; Alissa Shaw smacked two kills with two aces,and an assist; Sydney Christenson had 10 kills and an assist; and Courtnie Paul served five aces.
Forks next will play at Montesano on Monday.
Cedar Park 3, Chimacum 1
CHIMACUM —
The Cowboys dropped a tough four-set match to Cedar Park Christian by the scores of 18-25, 25-10, 25-19, 25-23.
For Chimacum, Olivia Baird earned 11 digs, five kills and five aces while Lauren Thacker had six kills and Megan Dukek dished out nine assists and had four scoring aces.
The Cowboys next host Bellevue Christian on Monday.
Girls Soccer
Klahowya 5,
Port Angeles 1
SILVERDALE — Olympic League-leading Klahowya (6-0-0, 13-0-0) defeated the Roughriders (2-3-0, 4-7-1) on Thursday night at Silverdale Stadium.
Klahowya, currently ranked fifth in state, scored early and jumped to a 2-0 lead after 10 minutes.
The Riders quickly countered to pull one goal back. Brittany McBride led a combination of passes that resulted in Chloe Brown’s first goal of the season.
“I was glad to give my best friend, Chloe, the assist to her first goal of the season,” McBride said.
Chloe, meanwhile, was elated to get her first goal of the season.
“I’m happy to score my first varsity goal against the best team in the league,” Brown said
“It wouldn’t have been possible without the beautiful cross from Brittany McBride and the hard work of my teammates.”
The Eagles then scored in the 12th and 39th minutes to lead 4-1 at halftime.
The second half was more of a midfield game with Klahowya earning just one goal.
The Riders were kept in the game by some excellent goalkeeping by Mariah Frazier, who ended up with 11 saves.
“They are by far the class of the league and the most difficult team we will play,” Port Angeles coach Scott Moseley said about the Eagles.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win a state championship.”
Moseley named Brown the offensive player of the game, McBride the transition player of the game and Frazier the defensive player of the game.
The Riders JV beat Klahowya 2-0.
North Kitsap 4, Port Townsend 0
POULSBO — The Vikings (4-1-0 in Olympic League, 8-2-1 overall) led just 1-0 at the half but then poured it on in the second half.
“Going into halftime only one goal down was an achievement in itself,” Port Townsend coach Colin Foden said.
“North Kitsap was dominant throughout the half but met with a well organized and tenacious defense from us.
“Reduced to shooting from distance while having to contend with our counter-attack clearly frustrated North Kitsap.
“But for an 11-minute spell at the start of the second half, we would have kept the score lower but North Kitsap overloaded our penalty area and found the net three more times.”
The Redskins (2-3-0, 4-7-0) regained their composure but were unable to mount much of a counter-attack.
“In the end the better team won but again our defense was admirable,” Foden said.
“We had impressive performances by Natalee Taylor, Nakaia Millman, Anne Meek and Becca Stewart.”
The Redskins next host Sequim on Tuesday night at Memorial Field.
The Port Townsend game against Bremerton has been rescheduled for Oct. 24 at Memorial Field at 5 p.m.
Olympic 4,
Sequim 3, OT
SEQUIM — The Wolves (1-4-0 in Olympic League, 3-6-2 overall) lost the conference heartbreaker Thursday night.
The Trojans led 2-1 at halftime but the Wolves tied it up 3-3 at the end of regulation on a late goal by Maeve Harris on a Bianay Cadenas assist at 74 minutes.
Olympic scored at 87 minutes in overtime for the win.
Leslie Cisneros scored in the first half for Sequim on a Harris assist while Cisneros scored again in the 55th minute in the second half on a Cadenas assist.
Girls Swimming
Port Angeles 96, Port Townsend 87
PORT ANGELES — The 2A Roughriders held off the 1A Redskins in a spirited meet for first place in the Olympic League on Thursday.
The Riders improved to 5-0 in league and 5-1 overall while the Redskins now are 5-1 in league.
Port Townsend is the only 1A school competing in swimming.
“The meet was exciting from start to finish,” Port Angeles coach Rich Butler said.
“Our athletes went toe-to-toe with them throughout the meet. We couldn’t have asked more from our swimming and diving team.
“The final results proved that we capitalized on our entire program to pull out a tough win.”
The Riders picked up all 13 diving points because the Redskins don’t have a diving team due to no diving facilities.
Tracie Macias of Port Angeles swam two more individual state qualifying times, earning state slots in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly.
Macias won both events to join teammate Carter Juskevich as a double winner.
Juskevich won the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.
The Riders placed first in nine of 12 events but outscored the Redskins in only five of the 12 events to show Port Townsend’s depth.
The Redskins outscored the Riders 87-83 in the swimming events.
The Redskins won the 100 and 200 free relays and also swept the 500 free with Darby Flanagan taking first, Hannah Welch taking second and Camille Ottaway claiming third.
Also winning for Port Townsend was Rose Ridder in the 100 free.
At the meet, the Riders recognized three swimmers competing in their final home dual meet.
They are seniors Kimberly Littlejonh and four-year lettermen Macias and Lexie Pankowski.
The final league meet of the season for the Riders will be against Bremerton at the Bremerton YMCA pool on Thursday at 3 p.m., beginning a half-hour before the normal starting time.