Hoquiam found its rhythm after a sluggish start to maintain its volleyball dominance over Aberdeen on Wednesday.
The Grizzlies swept the Bobcats, 25-19, 25-15, 25-16, in a non-league contest at Hoquiam Square Garden.
Hoquiam (3-1) missed nine serves and a fair number of hits, particularly early in the match. But the Grizzlies had a solid night passing and frequently prolonged points by digging up Bobcat spikes.
Kamimi Papp put down 12 kills and Karlie Krohn had nine kills and 12 digs for the Grizzlies. Steady junior setter Kacey Pelan handed out 23 assists and drew praise from winning coach Heather Bozich for running the offense.
“What I was proud of was after their mistakes, they didn’t let it get them down,” Bozich said. “I thought the passing was good and I thought they did a good job on out-of-system balls (passes that didn’t go directly to the setter). We scrambled well.”
Aberdeen (0-3) struggled even more than the Grizzlies from the service line. The Bobcats missed 11 serves, many of them at critical junctures.
“It’s impossible to come back when you’re giving away points,” AHS coach Doug Basler asserted. “Hoquiam was scrappy. They were getting everything up and we didn’t match them.”
The Bobcats had their moments, particularly in the early stages of the opening set. Anna Arquette’s stuff block gave the visitors a 12-8 lead in that stanza.
Hoquiam answered, however, by scoring the next five points, then took a permanent lead when Elyse Goulet served the last four points of another five-point run. Papp concluded that spurt with a pair of kills that made it 19-14.
The Grizzlies never trailed at any juncture for the remainder of the night. They went up 14-5 in the second set on a Rylee Vonhof tip and closed out the set with a Mercedes Pinnell ace.
Hoquiam gradually pulled away in the third set. After hitting through a Bobcat block to give Hoquiam a 24-16 advantage, Goulet closed it out with her fourth stuff block of the contest.
Basler commended the net play of Arquette, Kennedy Pruett and Hailee Baretich and the defense of libero Tamara Corona. Arquette, however, hobbled off the court after turning an ankle late in the final set.
Aberdeen won both the JV (25-20, 25-23) and C Squad (25-20, 20-25, 15-13) contests.
The Grizzlies will compete in the Yakima SunDome Invitational on Friday. The Bobcats travel to Elma on Monday.
