HS Volleyball: Peninsula sweeps Gig Harbor in rivalry win

10/11/22
By Alex Benzegala

Peninsula 3, Gig Harbor 0

(Purdy, WA) The Peninsula Seahawks volleyball team got their 5th straight win over their crosstown rival the Gig Harbor Tides in a 3-0 sweep, (25-15, 25-22, 25-17).

The Tides played valiantly all night, but Peninsula used timely runs, key service aces and defense to defeat Gig Harbor. The Tides often kept pace early but Peninsula seemed to take momentum in the middle of sets, with Senior Captain and 2021 SSC MVP Langley Griffin leading the team in service aces and kills in and at times took over the match.

The ESN Broadcast player of the game honors though went to Freshman Samantha Karjala who started the match for the Seahawks and was on fire early, getting some big kills to help Peninsula win the set big. While she was on the bench for some of the 2nd and 3rd sets, she came on in the 3rd set and made a huge impact, getting some big blocks and kills to help PHS pull away late. The Peninsula home student section started chanting “She’s a freshman!” She’s a freshman!” That alone shows how impressive she was against on Tuesday night.

On the other side for Gig Harbor, Lydia Ward was fantastic from her Setter position, as she made some assists and kept some plays alive that as a spectator you just have to marvel at. Camryn Kelly had some nice blocks and kills as well to lead the Tides.

For Peninsula however, the win improves the Seahawks to 8-3 overall and more importantly, 6-1 in the SSC. The Seahawks won their 3rd straight conference match after a 5-set loss to North Thurston and will have a chance to enact their revenge on the Rams on the road in a couple weeks.

The loss for Gig Harbor was their 2nd in a row in conference play to drop to 7-3 overall and 5-2 overall. The Tides won their first 5 matches in the SSC before falling to undefeated North Thurston on last Thursday and Peninsula on Tuesday. Gig Harbor will try to avenge Tuesday’s loss to Peninsula as they host the Seahawks on Tuesday Nov. 8 at Gig Harbor High School.