By Gerardo Bolong

CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Experience was a major factor in a Seattle Christian 3-0 home volleyball loss to Nisqually 1A League foe Bellevue Christian on Thurs., Feb. 25.
With strict COVID-19 protocol in place, the home standing Warriors quickly fell back in the first set.
SC showed some glimmerings of solid team play, but mistakes against a power hitting BC opponent constituted double-digit leads throughout.
Trailing 23-13, the Warriors surged a bit. Junior Laura Pitney served three aces as part of 4-0 Seattle Christian resurgence.
A strong shot from Mira Scarsella brought the fighting Warriors within 23-17 before
Cora ter Kuile bombed home a point on the way to a 25-17 BC set win.
Ter Kuile and her Viking teammates kept the Warriors in their rear mirror as they drove to a 25-9 second set win. Seattle Christian had great difficulties sustaining consistent play and also had trouble covering the middle gap on defense.
Sophomore Christine Traynor earned a kill for a 2-0 Seattle Christian lead to open the third set only to have Bellevue Christian sail ahead to big leads.
Trailing 19-8 in the third set, the Warriors exhibited some shimmering moments of effectiveness.
In succession, Traynor downed a kill followed by a pair of service aces. Excellent Warrior defensive play led to another SC point before Traynor nailed another service ace to make the score 19-13.
At this point, ter Kuile led her Viking teammates on a 6-1 point surge to close out the proceedings.
After last season’s plethora of seniors, this season’s SC squad is building with juniors and sophomores.
“We’ll get there,” said Warrior head coach Katrice Pond. “It’s a matter of reshaping and training.”