By Bill Reynolds
La Conner Community News
The La Conner Braves, who enjoy a storied State 2B volleyball tradition, brought their ‘A’ game to a key nonleague home match with 1A Blaine last week.
The Braves improved to 6-2 on the campaign with a tidy straight-sets triumph over the Borderites during a fast-paced 70-minute clash at Landy James Gym. The final line score was 25-14, 25-15, 25-16 for La Conner.
Nora McCormick paced the victors with nine kills, six digs, and a service ace.
McCormick, La Conner’s versatile junior middle blocker/outside hitter who regularly fills the stat sheet, had plenty of help throughout. Rory Bird and Faith Kowalcyk added six kills apiece, Reese Bird collected five kills, Mia Delage finished with three kills, and Nellie Mueller chipped in a single kill.
Kowalcyk and Reese Bird fueled the Braves attack with seven assists each. La Conner’s crisp passing, which set up repeated well-placed hits, forced Blaine players to cover the entire court.
“We’re not big,” Braves head coach Pam Keller noted after the Sept. 16 pairing, “so we have to be smart (with our passing and hitting). Tonight, our passing was really good.
Defensively, Delage (17) and Mueller (14) combined for 31 of La Conner’s 58 digs. But it was at the service stripe where La Conner controlled the contest’s tempo.
The Braves recorded 13 aces, six by Reese Bird. She secured the second set for the hosts by serving eight straight points, including a pair of aces, while extending La Conner’s lead from 15-11 to 23-11.
The victors withstood solid net play from Blaine’s Livia Weeda and Makena Johnson, who combined for eight kills.
Strong serving had also carried La Conner to a straight-sets home victory over NW2B/1B rival Friday Harbor on Sept. 14. In the second frame of that match, with the Braves trailing 17-9, Isla Jones delivered two aces to spur a 9-0 run that gave La Conner the lead for good.
La Conner took that second set by a slim 25-23 margin
“It’s good to see,” stressed Keller, “that our team can come from behind like that.”
The Braves opened against Friday Harbor with a lopsided 25-8 decision in the first set. La Conner closed with a 25-22 verdict in the final game.
McCormick notched a team-best 11 kills against Friday Harbor. Reese Bird ignited the Braves attack with 13 assists, and Rory Bird’s 16 digs anchored the La Conner defense.
Eighth graders Mueller and Kowalcyk were major factors in the win as well. Mueller finished with four kills, nine digs, and an ace. Kowalcyk had eight assists, seven digs, four kills, and an ace.
While not blessed with imposing height, La Conner relies on a lineup of interchangeable parts—players who can fill multiple roles.
“We have several players who can set,” Keller pointed out. “As a 2B program, we can’t specialize much. “So,we teach our players to play more than one position. We have to be flexible.”
Keller, whose young team—La Conner has no seniors on its roster—now awaits a much-anticipated Sept. 25 (7 p.m.) home date with 2A Anacortes.
Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
