PORT TOWNSEND — Sequim, ranked No. 7 in state, continued along the road to the Olympic League volleyball championship by beating Port Townsend 3-0.
The Wolves, a perfect 6-0 in league standings and 11-1 on the year, defeated the Redskins 25-15, 25-19, 25-11 on Tuesday night.
Sequim has only two regular-season matches left on the year, Bremerton at home tonight for Senior Night, and than at archrival Port Angeles on Tuesday night for the Roughriders’ Senior Night.
Tuesday’s match should be a dandy because the Riders will be fighting for a playoff spot by finishing in the top five in league.
Powerhouse North Kitsap sits solidly in second place with its only loss to Sequim, while it’s a bottleneck below the Vikings with Port Angeles, Olympic, Kingston and Klahowya all tightly battling for third through sixth place.
Win out and the Wolves will host the league tournament on Oct. 27 with the conference’s top four teams.
The No. 4 and 5 squads will have a loser-out playoff match on Oct. 25 with the winner advancing to the league tournament.
The league champion will host the tourney, which is seeding for the West Central District tournament.
Sequim will find out its standing in the state while participating in the Capital Invitational at Capital High School in Olympia on Saturday.
There will be at least two other state-ranked teams at the tourney.
On Tuesday, the Wolves came out uninspired but got better as the match went out to beat the Redskins in three.
“I was hoping we would have been a little more on fire,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber-Heilman said.
On the other hand, Port Townsend put up a good battle.
“Port Townsend has improved a lot,” Webber-Heilman said. “They have only one senior, so they will do better next year.”
Taylor Balkan dominated the backfield while Haleigh Harrison was tops at the net for the Wolves with Balkan earned 33 assistsand Harrison putting down 18 kills.
Balken also served 7 of 8 with two aces, and she had 10 digs.
Harrison had 15 digs in the three games, and also served five aces, four in the final game.
Lex Besand, meanwhile, earned seven kills at the net, and she also had an eight-point serving run in the third game with three aces.
Harrison’s and Besand’s serving in that final game helped the Wolves dominate and end the match early, Webber-Heilman said.
Besand ended up with five aces in the match.
Also, Rylleigh Zbaraschuk had 13 digs for Sequim while Hannah Hudson earned seven digs, five aces, and four perfect passes, and sophomore Emma LeBlanc had 16 digs, two kills and 7 of 7 serving.
Mariah Reidel went a perfect 4 for 4 in serving and had a kill while Caitlin Stofferahn had three blocks and Kate Harker had three kills.
Abby McGuire led the Redskins with 14 digs, and she also had three kills and two assists while teammate Megan Juran earned two kills and two aces.
Other highlights for the Redskins were Baili Shaw with 10 digs, Megan Lee with eight digs, Rio Golden with seven digs and Codi Hallinan with three kills.
Port Angeles 3, North Mason 0
PORT ANGELES — The Roughriders stayed in the hunt for a playoff spot by beating the Bulldogs 25-23, 25-15, 25-13
The Roughriders, 4-3 in the Olympic League and 5-6 overall, must finish in the top five after the dust settles at the end of the regular season Tuesday to advance to the postseason.
Port Angeles concludes the regular season against the top two teams, North Kitsap (5-1 in league) at Poulsbo tonight and at home on Senior Night against Sequim (6-0) on Tuesday night.
Kendra Harvey led the Riders against North Mason with 19 of 20 serving with six aces, and 11 digs and a kill while Madison Hinrichs earned seven kills and 13 digs.
Bailee Jones ended up with seven kills and four digs while Brittany Norberg had six kills, six digs and an ace, and setter Holli William earned 28 assists, four digs, two aces and one kill.
The Port Angeles JV team won 2-1 by the scores of 25-17, 25-15, 21-25.
The Rider C team defeated the Bulldogs 3-0 by the scores of 25-14, 25-6, 25-17.
Girls Soccer
Port Angeles 3, North Mason 2, OT
PORT ANGELES — In a seesaw, back and forth game, it only made sense that the last team to score was going to be the winner — and the Roughriders did just that, earning the Olympic League win in overtime.
“The girls withstood some adversity and showed good heart by working hard to earn the win,” Port Angeles coach Scott Moseley said.
The Riders jumped out to an early lead in the second minute when Shayla Northern found Maddie Boe with a cross that Boe placed into the net.
The Bulldogs equalized at the 15th minute.
Port Angeles took the lead in the 51st minute when Kelsie Balfour scored her first goal of the season on a Boe assist.
Once again though, North Mason drew even, this time with only 6 minutes left.
This set the stage for perhaps the first Golden Goal win in Rider history.
Northern was fouled in the penalty box by a North Mason player, and the referee awarded a penalty kick.
Northern, the team’s designated penalty-kick artist, calmly hit the game winner that earned the Riders a crucial three points as the team fights for a postseason playoff spot.
“I was confident that I could score, but until it actually went in, it was nerve-racking,” Northern said.
Moseley named Boe and Balfour as co-offensive players of the game while Northern took transition player of the game honors and Kylee Jeffers was selected as the defensive player of the game.
The Riders outshot the Bulldogs 20-5 while goalkeeper Hayley Baxley recorded four saves.
The Port Angeles JV team won 2-0.
The Riders next play North Kitsap at Poulsbo tonight.
Port Townsend 1, Sequim 0, SO
PORT TOWNSEND — The two teams battled to 0-0 regulation and overtime scores but the Redskins prevailed 5-4 in a penalty-kick shootout.
Scoring the crucial penalty-kick goals for Port Townsend were Jewel Johnson, Alex Akins, Irina Lyons, Jody Kimmel and Nakaia Millman.
When it came to the overtime penalty kicks, the Redskins were down 3-1 going into the fourth round.
Two magnificent saves from keeper Malia Henderson allowed Port Townsend to draw level, and then in sudden death penalties she made two more great saves before Millman calmly scored the winner in the ninth round.
“We thought the Kingston game was exciting but this was even more so,” Port Townsend coach Colin Foden said.
“In truth, the game should have been decided during regulation time but we seemed unable to capitalize on the numerous openings they created.
“The swiftness of our counter-attacks had Sequim on their heels time and time again, with Jewel Johnson carving through the defense and Irina Lyons taking long-range shots at will.
“Nakaia Millman was majestic in center mid, and the whole defense was superb.
“Almost everyone played, and played well but as a coach my regret was not getting Alethea Westlund into the game on Senior Night.”
Seniors playing their final home game were Akins, Millman, Lyons, Westlund, Kimmel and Bethany Foster.
The Port Townsend JV team wrapped up its season against Sequim on Tuesday night.
“There are some good emerging players in the group, and we also need to show our appreciation for the teams who lent us players so that our JV team could play competitive games,” Foden said.
“Shenoa Snyder and Emily Slough will be joining the varsity squad for the remaining games.”
The Redskins next play tonight in Bremerton against Olympic.
The Redskins are now 3-3-0 in the Olympic League.
The Port Townsend vs. Bremerton game that had been rescheduled for next Wednesday now more likely will be at 7 p.m. on Monday at Memorial Field.