Bainbridge defeats rival North Kitsap, lose to Central Kitsap.

The Bainbridge volleyball team opened the season with four games in three days.

It’s a demanding stretch, but head coach Julie Miller likes what she sees so far.

“That’s a lot of volleyball, from not playing to all of a sudden having four in a row,” she said. “Considering that, I thought we did an incredible job. And if we can build on that, I’m happy.”

The Spartans opened the season on Tuesday with a 25-20, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22 win over the North Kitsap Vikings and played two matches at the Sequim Jamboree, but lost a barnburner of a match against the Central Kitsap Cougars on Thursday 25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 17-25 and 7-15.

Bainbridge had control of the first game, but Central Kitsap worked their way back to tie it at 13.

Marijke Schwarz-Smith scored two straight aces to break the tie and the Spartans didn’t look back.

Central Kitsap hung tough with Bainbridge in the second game to win by two, but the Spartans took the third game by a four-point margin.

In the fourth and fifth games, the Cougars took advantage of several Spartan mistakes to win out.

Despite the errors, Miller said it was the best volleyball the team has played so far.

“I saw some great stuff (on the court),” she said. “We made some mistakes, but I thought we did really well.”

Hannah Stuart felt the same way.

“I felt we worked very hard,” she said. “We just let the other team get (on) a few runs. They’re a really great team and very smart.

“I think if we just keep working on our composure, we’ll be able to beat some teams at State.”

Stuart finished with 23 kills and 13 digs, while Kelcey Dunaway had seven kills and nine blocks.

Ali Post had 33 assists and 13 digs.

Against North Kitsap, Stuart had 14 kills and 11 digs while Schwarz-Smith had 13 kills and eight digs.

Post had 31 assists and 17 digs while Dunaway had six kills, five blocks and four aces.

Bainbridge travels to Auburn for a tournament Saturday.

They start league play against Ingraham on Wednesday.

Game time is at 6 p.m.

Kickers lose lead to CK

After opening the season with a 2-0 win over North Kitsap on Monday, the Bainbridge girls soccer team couldn’t hold onto a 2-1 lead against Central Kitsap, eventually losing 3-2 on Thursday night.

“They were very physical,” head coach Anh Tran said of Central Kitsap. “I think they outplayed us (in the) first half, but we were evenly matched in the second half.”

Zena Hemmen scored to give Bainbridge a 1-0 lead, but Brandi Hamre came back to tie the game in the 32nd minute.

Hemmen scored just before the half, but Kim Kummer scored to tie it up in the 53rd minute.

Hamre scored again on a header off a corner kick in the 76th minute to put the Cougars up for good.

Against North Kitsap, Caitlyn Salo brought her court hustle onto the soccer pitch Tuesday, scoring two breakaway goals in the varsity girls’ 2-0 win over North Kitsap.

The close-fought game brought out a good and boisterous crowd to Memorial Stadium on the school year’s eve.

“They were really aggressive,” Salo said of the Viking 11. “They’ve been conditioning for this, but so have we.”

It was a fine debut in the Spartan program for Salo, who has played select-level club soccer but only joined the BHS side in this, her senior year. The varsity basketball standout said she turned out for soccer after several friends told her they regretted not having joined the Spartan program themselves.

“She’s a fighter and she wins balls,” first-year girls varsity coach Tran said of Salo. “She’s a great little addition to our team.”

The Spartans missed several prime opportunities early, failing to convert on an open net when the Viking keeper was pulled out of position.

But Salo put them ahead late in the first half in a one-on-one against the keeper, repeating the feat after the break.

Tran credited the “pinpoint passing” by the offense and a stalwart Spartan defense in the season-opening win. Jessie Vincent recorded the shutout in her first start as varsity goalkeeper.

In junior varsity play, Bainbridge fell 2-1 to the Vikings. Annelies Gross scored for Bainbridge.

The Spartans travel to Chief Sealth next Monday, then return home for their first league game against Bishop Blanchet.

Game time is at 4:30 p.m.

– Douglas Crist

Select soccer shows talent

The Bainbridge FC girls U13 “Azzuri” team performed ably at the Snohomish Bigfoot Tournament July 17-19.

South Spokane got through the tough Azzurri defense and goalie Hannah Depew to score the only goal in the game.

Against Cascade Select, Hana “Express Mail” Newman scored while the defense and Depew kept the opposition from maintaining any offensive momentum.

Down 2-1 in the final minutes, Lillian Louden-Mosio scored the game-tying goal on a throw-in from Sarah Dacquisto.

The Azzurri played tough against FC Aanvallen, with Andrea Clark, Carly Burt, Kate Jameson, and Vanessa Beck all making shots on goal.

But Aanvallen scored in the last five minutes to tie up the game.

The Azzurri finished with a 0-1-2 record in the gold division of their age group.

Youth Soccer Month is here

Local orthodontists Raymond Manke and Troy Okunami of Braces, Inc. and members of their staff will hand out more than 1,000 water bottles to local youth soccer teams today in to celebrate the opening day of the season.

They will be at Hidden Cove West Field from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. to give away the bottles until they run out. They will also be at Fairgrounds Field in Silverdale and Vinland Field in Poulsbo.

Gov. Christine Gregoire declared the month of September to be Washington Youth Soccer Month.

She is the first governor in the nation to declare a month in support of youth soccer.

The Seattle Sounders are hosting a “Youth Soccer Appreciation Night” at 7 p.m. tonight at Qwest Field, where they’ll play the Atlanta Silverbacks.