Trojans too much for Knight netters

Every loss is tough to take.

Bremerton volleyball coach Roger Thomas was quick to point that out after his Knights fell to Olympic 25-23, 25-16, 22-25, 25-17.

This one may have been particularly tough to take, however, as the team played well for the most part but the Trojans proved to simply be better.

“We had some unforced errors in all four games,” Thomas said. “We played much better than we did (against South Kitsap). We had more emotion and intensity than our last game.”

“But sometimes you play well and you still don’t win.”

For much of the evening, it appeared the difference came in that Bremerton could play stretches of even volleyball with Olympic, but it was the Trojans that were able to sustain a rally.

Olympic got up 2-0 in the first match and then it looked like it was going to be a barn-burner. There were six ties and several lead changes before the Trojans stretched their advantage to 16-13.

Down 20-17, consecutive kills by Knight co-captains Colby Thatcher and Brianne Gregory followed by another point got Bremerton back into a tie game.

But the Trojans bounced back with a 4-1 run and finished with a narrow 25-23 win.

The second game started out well for Bremerton again, jumping to a 6-5 lead but the Trojans took advantage soon afterward and closed an iron grip on the lead, eventually scoring the last five points for a 25-16 victory.

The Knights jumped out ahead 5-0 facing a sweep in the third game, but relinquished that lead when Olympic went on a 10-1 run.

Thatcher keyed the comeback with back-to-back kills which tied the match at 10 and the Trojans went to the bench to talk things over after Bremerton went up by two.

The Knights were not going to give up the lead again and appeared energized as they won the game to stay alive and kept things even early in the fourth game at 4-4.

It was not meant to be, however, as the Trojans got their second wind and took command, scoring four straight points and stretched their advantage to 24-13.

Bremerton showed heart, adding four straight of their own before conceding the match point.

Gregory finished the night with a team-high 11 kills in addition to six blocks. Thatcher added 10 kills and six aces. Asia Davis had a perfect night serving 16/16 and Candace Grettenberger added three more kills for the Knights. Bremerton fell to 1-2 in the Bridge Division and 5-5 overall.

Girls swimming

The Knights performed well in a Bridge Division meet at North Kitsap Thursday, Oct. 6, keeping it tight almost the entire way before the Vikings came away with the win.

Kelsey Wastel won the 200-meter freestyle in 2:23.82. Molly Tonder captured both the 200 individual medley (2:33.49) and 100 butterfly (1:09.43). Adriane Banks had the Knights’ other first-place finish, swimming a 5:52.88 in the 500 freestyle.

Girls soccer

Bremerton has entered a bit of a slide in recent Bridge Division play, getting shut out in two of their past three games.

Olympic came to Memorial Stadium and shut down the Knights 3-0 Tuesday night. Bremerton had its best performance of the week Thursday, Oct. 6 at Shelton, but still fell to a team they had defeated in their first meeting of the season, allowing the Highclimbers their first league win of the season.

Sarah Gross first got Bremerton on the board with an unassisted goal in the 28th minute. Gross added an assist on Lindsey Dephilippi’s score in the 37th minute.

Samantha Supit added the Knights’ lone second half goal on a pass from Naomi Abad in the 66th minute.

The Knights also fell to Bridge co-leader Gig Harbor 6-0 Tuesday, Oct. 4. Bremerton took on North Kitsap in Poulsbo Thursday after press time.

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