TUMWATER — Perhaps no team in the Class 2A Evergreen Conference was hit harder due to graduation in terms of impact players lost than the Black Hills High School volleyball team. League MVP Ashley Harris plus Claire Johnson and Lily Kincaid are gone.
Add in a new head coach in Kendra Dunn, a year after the previous first-year coach Karlee Sampson led the Wolves to a trophy at state, and there’s a surrounding feeling of newness for a traditionally strong program.
Even with a core group of seniors and returners, there have been some growing pains.
Black Hills were swept by 1A Evergreen Montesano 25-8, 25-16, 25-15 on Tuesday night in a match that dropped the Wolves to 1-3 on the season. They were swept twice and fell to Mark Morris in a five-set thriller.
Their lone victory was a sweep over former EvCo rival Rochester.
“Montesano is a great team,” Dunn said. “We had moments that we were playing really well, but just couldn’t get the consistency and tying those moments together. I’m proud of how my team bounced back from the first set, their mentality to kind if flush it.”
One of the main themes Dunn preached after the latest setback was consistency within the system and consistency throughout the team. Black Hills is running a 6-2 with Oralia Mike plus Sophie Oakes as the setters.
Both are upperclassmen and Dunn believes it will be a season-long usage. The duo combined for seven assists.
“They are running the court well,” Dunn said. “They both have experience from last year. Take it match-by-match and see what happens.”
A bright spot versus Montesano was serving. The Wolves had just one service error with Mike leading the charge with three aces. Even with the high serve percentage, they struggled to get the Bulldogs out of system.
Middle Ellie Johnson was the only attacker with multiple kills and she notched three block assists. Defensive specialist Anneliese Dale paced the back row with 12 digs while Madi Malone and Tyler Venable each recorded six.
Black Hills is attempting to get back to Yakima for the third straight year. Even after a slower start, Dunn believes the struggles in September could be a thing of the past.
“We’re trying to learn from each match and find our strengths, what we need to work on and keep building,” Dunn said. “They do a great job of letting go of their mistakes and continuing to fight on that next play.”
