Knights defeat Highland in volleyball

ROYAL CITY - The Royal High School girls leveled their early season record to 1-1 with a three-game defeat of Highland in volleyball last Thursday.

The Knights prevailed 27-25, 25-13, 27-25. Last Tuesday they fell to Cle Elum 21-25, 16-25, 17-25.

Coach Paul Olsufka was pleased with the victory, and he wasn't upset about the loss. One of his starters was missing for the Cle Elum match, and "she could've made a big difference," he said.

Olsufka has 27 girls in the program. Only two are seniors, and the largest group is the sophomore class. The starters include seniors Samantha Noftle and Kailee Harris.

The victory over Highland was led by junior Lindsey Small. junior Taylor Freeman and sophomore Alyx Zeigler.

Small went 14-14 serving and produced four digs, two blocks and four kills. Freeman made 19 of 21 serves, scored 12 aces and produced four digs and two kills. Zeigler had 10-12 serving, two aces and nine assists.

In the Cle Elum match, Freeman scored two aces, made four digs and scored one kill. Small went 13-13 serving and produced six digs, three kills and one block. Harris had 8-9 serving, two digs, two kills and one block.

The Royal girls played in a tournament at the Yakima Sundome over the weekend against top flight competition. They won two of 11 games (not matches) against Tri-City Prep, West Valley JV, Entiat, Hoquiam and Providence.