Peninsula volleyball squad earns biggest win of season

Team battles back from 0-2 deficit to beat Capital

Marques Hunter

of the Gateway

The Peninsula Seahawks’ volleyball match against the Capital Cougars last Thursday night had the look of reinforcing the Seahawks’ struggles of beating a quality opponent.

After all, Peninsula (1-0 Class 3A South Puget Sound League, 4-3 overall) was 0-3 against above-average teams and 3-0 against weaker ones.

But even though the Seahawks dropped the first two games, they bounced back to win three straight to earn their biggest win of the season over the Cougars (3-3).

Peninsula senior Samantha Paswaters said the team struggled early on but knew they could pull it back together.

“We went into this thinking Capital is going to be good, but we pulled through,” Paswaters said. “It gives us confidence that, if we’re up there with one of the top teams, then we can do good playing all the other teams in our league.”

The Seahawks will look to bring the same intensity tonight in a league matchup against Lakes (1-4 overall) at 7:15 p.m. at Peninsula High School’s main gym.

Against Capital, the Seahawks battled in the opening game but fell short, 27-25.

Then the ship seemingly began to sink.

Capital jumped out to a 16-8 lead in game two and scored nine out of the last 12 points to win 25-11.

It was as if the Seahawks forgot how to spike the ball.

“I was going to sit them on the bench if they tipped,” Peninsula head coach Ann Lovrovich said, referring to the team’s inability to strike the ball with force. “We weren’t going to tip anymore.”

With three girls on the front line who average 6 feet tall, the Seahawks began to drop the hammer.

Peninsula senior Kayla Erickson recorded a team-high 15 kills, and teammates Olivia Gallucci and Natalie Brundage also recorded double-digit kills. The trio combined for 38 slams off a game-high 40 assists by senior Katelyn Hagen.

The Seahawks’ concerted effort to block produced 47 digs, 20 of which were attributed to senior Jordan Stewart.

And in the fourth game, they realized they could attack and defend with their height.

“Our front row did amazing,” Stewart said. “They were beastly. This was the biggest win for us so far.”

The Seahawks battled to even the match at 2-2 with a 26-24 victory in the fourth game. With the momentum swinging in their favor, they closed the door with a 15-9 win in the final game.

Peninsula’s Natalie Brundage said it was the most fun the team has had this season.

“Once we started winning and getting excited, we started hitting the ball a lot harder,” Brundage said. “We haven’t been winning against good teams, and then we just picked it up and won.”

Peninsula senior Chandler Shea worked Capital’s nerves, scoring 25 points off her serves and recording three aces.

“We were more successful in doing what we were supposed to do,” Lovrovich said. “We implemented a game plan rather than just playing.”