Morning Star Staff
Three days after stopping the senior AAA VSS Panthers, the AA Seaton Sonics were giving more heavyweights trouble at the UBCO heat Senior Girls Volleyball Tournament Friday.
The Sonics opened Power Pool play in the Heat Classic against the No. 2 AAAA Handsworth Royals of North Vancouver and lost 2-1, taking the first set 25-17 before the Royals won 25-18, 25-9.
Rose Harned played a fantastic first set with marvellous passing. Setter Kalli Hamilton-Gee served the most points and led the Sonics with 11 assists and five blocks in the match. Handsworth overpowered Seaton the final two sets with strong right-side play.
Seaton then dusted off the DP Todd Trojans of Prince George 25-19, 25-22. The Sonics started with a bang as Ellen Van Buren rolled off 15 straight serves.
Eva Haldane pounded several balls, while Dana Kievit had a couple of statement blasts that rocked the gym and Kenzie Nieuwenhuis got into the action with a few kills from the left side.
“Sam Scott set the second set and got and delivered some nice balls to Emma Haner to kill,” said Seaton head coach Jeff Huggns. “Mad die Findlay-Proctor played some great back row at the libero position and Dana Kievit had a couple of critical kills to finish off the Trojans.”
The Sonics battled through a tough third-set lose to the Notre Dame Jugglers of Vancouver (23-25, 25-22 and 15-5).
Seaton played a strong match and narrowly lost the first set. Hamilton-Gee continued to pose problems for the Jugglers’ offence with several key blocks.
“The players are continuing to develop and are showing moments of brilliance on the court,” added Huggins.
Seaton jumpstarted their week by taking out 10th-ranked VSS 3-1 (25-21, 25-5, 16-25, 25-23) at the Panther Pit.
The Sonics started to roll at the end of the first set with some key kills down the line from Van Buren.
That run resumed in the second set when Hamilton-Gee served 11 in a row. She was setting from the back row and Kievit exploded from the left side. The Panthers kept fighting and digging several great hits, but Kievit kept firing and amassed 12 kills.
“The Panthers were unrelenting in the third set and outplayed us at the beginning of the fourth set,” said Huggins.
“We reignited our play with several key blocks from Emma Haner, Ava Haldane and Ella Oduro. We had to overcome a seven-point deficit to take the fourth set. This was an entertaining match in front of a raucous home crowd.”