Yellow Pages
ANACORTES — The Anacortes volleyball had to do quite a bit of shuffling at the setter position Thursday night. The Seahawks had no problem in the middle.
In the end, it was not quite enough to get by defending Northwest Conference champion Lynden, which beat the Seahawks 25-16, 21-25, 25-22, 25-20 in the conference opener for both schools.
With starting setter Faith Vandeway out due to illness, the Seahawks split her duties between senior outside hitter Tyler Calles and sophomore Lauren Kyllo, who was called up from the JV for the match.
“They really did well,” Anacortes coach Ashley Abrams said. “We have a young team, and we need to just play more with each other.”
Junior middle hitter Jessica Straight was a constant for the Seahawks throughout the match, leading all players with 13 kills and eight blocks.
“She’s grown a lot as a player,” Calles said.
“She’s really improved,” Abrams said. “She’s just kind of grown into her body. She played a lot over the summer.”
Straight had five kills and a pair of blocks to lead the Seahawks to the second game victory, and two of each early on to help Anacortes build an 8-4 lead it would not relinquish.
“She put everything away,” Lynden coach Angie Dalles said. “They did a good job. Their serving was tough.”
The third game proved pivotal, as Anacortes held a 15-11 lead before Lynden won 10 of the next 11 points to take control. The Seahawks fought off four game points, but could not quite climb back in.
The final game was tight all the way through, and was tied for the final time at 19-19, but Lynden ran off six of the final seven points to win the match.
Hannah Shine, the only returning starter from the Lions team that went undefeated in conference last year, led a balanced Lynden attack with nine kills. Laura Webb finished with eight and Carrie Starbuck seven for the Lions, who were playing their first match of the season after starting off with a tournament.
“They played pretty well tonight,” Dallas said. “It was a tough match. Anacortes is a good team.”
Kate Murray had seven kills and Calles six for the Seahawks (1-1 overall).
• Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or by e-mail at .
