By Gerardo Bolong

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Seattle Christian High School volleyball team fought closely before dropping a combative three-set Nisqually 1A League match to the visiting Annie Wright Gators on Mon., Sept. 30.

”They had a more fire and passion,” said first-year Warrior head coach Katrice Pond. “When we got to game point, we kept giving the other team more opportunities. The next game will be different, and I’m excited for it.”

Pond graduated from Christian Faith High School and was an outstanding volleyball player player at Grand Canyon University.

Seattle Christian is 0-1 league and 3-3 overall. Annie Wright improved to 1-0 and 3-2, respectively..

Behind the solid serving of Rachel Samson, the host Warriors led 3-0 in the first set after Krista Traynor set up Fiona O’Reilly for a kill. SC extended its lead to 7-0 before AW closed within 8-6 behind some strong hitting.

The scored stayed close until Seattle Christian led 11-10.

A cross court kill by Kyra Goodspeed followed by a middle block from Mira Scarsells and a big serve from Goodspeed pushed the Warrior lead to 14-10.

Trailing 16-11, the Gators showed some fire to take an 18-16 lead.

SC was still within reach at 21-20 and 23-22 behind Goodspeed, but six-footer Rae Wartelle scored for AW. An out of bounds Seattle Christian gave Annie Wright the set, 25-22.

The second set stayed tight until a Krista Traynor tip and a double block by Justyce Porter and Milat Mengstab preceded an O’Reilly cross court kill. One more point had the Warriors in position with a 22-19 margin.

Annie Wright fought back to a 22-all tie. Seattle Christian retaliated to lead 24-22 only to have AW win the set on four consecutive points.

In the third set, the Gators broke away from a 4-4 draw to lead 14-5 behind opportunistic tips at net.

Seattle Christian resolutely kept knocking down the lead until it led 23-22.

Tied at 23-23, the Warriors regained the lead at 24-23 on an O’Reilly kill down the left sideline.

AW grabbed the lead back at 25-24, but Goodspeed notched a kill from the left side for SC.

Two consecutive Gator points ended the night’s festivities.

Despite missing Alex Hochhalter due to a burning migraine headache, Seattle Christian was able to adjust.

”We served the ball really well,” Goodspeed said. “We fought when we needed to and everyone pitched in.”

For the three sets, Goodspeed finished with 12 kills. Olivia Clark owned 14 digs while Traynor had 25 assists.