Spartans dump Wolves

"South Kitsap High School's lack of a true middle blocker was all too evident in its 16-14, 15-11, 13-15, 15-8, two-and-a-half hour marathon loss to Bainbridge Island.With SK sophomore middle blocker Lea Juntila out with an ankle injury, the Spartans capitalized by spraying kills to all spots of the court Wednesday night in the SK gym.Three Bainbridge players scored in double figures in kills while compiling a .600 hitting percentage.SK's Katie Ralph and Chelsea Hoffman had 14 and 11 kills, respectively, but the team collectively netted a hitting percentage of .081.The loss dropped SK to 2-1 overall while Bainbridge improved to 2-1.Despite Bainbridge's offensive prowess, the teams managed to compete evenly until Bainbridge ran away in the fourth set.Down two games, SK battled back to win the third set and keep alive hopes of a massive comback.Leading 8-3, SK junior Jackie Binns reeled off four consecutive aces to give SK a resounding 12-3 lead.But five errors, a Kristina Purdom ace, and kills from Laura Bartunek and Alice Russell pulled Bainbridge within one point at 12-11.Ralph and Hoffman countered each with a kill, and a Bainbridge error ended the game.The second game proved to be the pivotal game of the match.SK built a 10-4 lead, only to see it squandered away as three errors and two kills from Purdom cut SK's lead to 10-9.The teams traded errors to an 11-11 deadlock before Michelle Miller and Bartunek each tallied a pair of kills to win the game 15-11.Trailing 8-11 in the first game, SK slowly climbed into contention on a pair of Ralph aces (eight aces in the match).Starla Lockhart's dump kill knotted the score at 11-11 before the Wolves gave away three points on two errors and a Purdom kill.Trailing 14-11, SK tied the score at 14-14 on two Bainbridge errors and a Rebekah Proctor ace.But back-to-back kill from Miller and Purdom ended SK's threat.The Wolves opened Narrows League play Thursday and travel to Olympia Tuesday before hosting Bellarmine on Thursday. "

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