BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer
Continuous ebbs and flows of momentum dominated the scene until Highline High School emerged with a hard fought 3-1 SPSL 2A Sound Division victory against Tyee of SeaTac in Burien on Tues., Oct. 10.
HHS remained solidly in third place at 6-3 with same record overall.
"This is a young team," said Pirate head coach Colleen Modde. "It takes experience to finish off a game. We have mainly freshmen and sophomores."
The first set gave evidence of the statement.
Highline reeled off the first six points before Tyee's Suzana Dukic scored.
As the battle lingered, the Totems hung in there until they trailed 11-6. Tyee fired back for six consecutive points ahead of even exchanges until the team reached a 23-all stand off and Tyee served out the set.
With both teams showing resilience, the patterns of streaks went on until a 22-22 tie. Jessica Wakefield assisted to Pirate teammate Meryl Plant to score and gain side out. Sierra Rodgers used a dropping serve to finish off the set.
Continued trading of short and long scoring surges typified the third set as the evenly matched teams fought to a 23-23 deadlock. A Tyee holding enabled to Ashlee Stacy to serve out set point.
Locked in an 11-11 fourth set tie, HHS fired out to a 19-11 lead based largely upon big serves from Alana Gaalema. Tyee kept working away to close within 20-18 and 24-22 with many of the points going into long rallies. The Pirates won it 25-22 behind Raelyn Lowery's serve.
Second-year Totem head coach Emily Alvarez was pleased with the continuing improvement (2-7 league, 4-7 overall) of her team.
"We lost 3-0 to Highline last time," she said. "There is great improvement. In the first set we worked hard on our hitting. All last season, we won three games. This season, we've already won three games."
Senior outside hitter Graci Mecklenburg posted seven kills and 12 digs for HHS.
"We were confident when we started, but fell apart," she said. "Our ambition came back to push ourselves and communicate."
Wakefield finished with 18 assist while the Pirates scored 14 points off Gaalema serves.
For Tyee, the effort was spread around. Michelle Rios pounded home 10 kills abetted by Tatiyana Lafita's seven kills. Karen Rios notched five kills. On the serving side, Karen Rios pounded home 10 aces with Michelle serving seven. Captain Dukic dished out 20 assists with her five aces. Alvina Tinofu also served five aces with Kyndal Wiebe contributing four. Tinofu was another strong outside hitter.
