Naselle splits games awaiting playoffs

Naselle’s girls volleyball team split its two games last week, first sweeping Lake Quinault in three straight sets (25-12, 25-14, 25-10) and then falling in five sets to Neah Bay (21-25, 26-28, 25-23, 25-22, 4-15) on Saturday, Oct. 25. During their victory over Lake Quinault on Thursday, Oct. 23, Jessie Smith led the team in assists with 17 and digs with eight. Smith, along with Brooke Davis and Sadie Kilponen, co-led the team in aces with four. Along with Hayley Rose, Smith co-led in blocks as well with one. Rose also led the team in kills with eight. “The girls served 91.7 percent tonight with 20 aces-serving their way to victory,” said Coach Rebekah Wirkkala. “They worked hard, had fun, met their goals, and played together.”

Saturday’s five-set defeat was a tough one to swallow for the girls but, on a positive note, they did pull themselves out of an 0-2 deficit to force the fifth and deciding set. “The girls worked hard but just couldn’t quite pull out the win,” said Assistant Coach Hanna Higginbotham. Kaitlyn Steenerson led the team with 14 kills and added two blocks. Colombo led the team in aces with four and co-led with Davis in digs with 26. Davis also contributed five kills, while Smith led the team with 37 assists. Rounding out the stats, Mylee Dunagan led the team with five blocks while Emma Kragerud added 10 kills.

According to Higginbotham, Naselle will open its playoff run with a home match on Monday, Nov. 3. The time and opponent were not announced at the time of press.