HS Volleyball: Olympia Rights Ship, Sweeps Kelso

9/10/25

(Kelso, WA) Early season volleyball continued on Wednesday night as ESN streamed our first couple of volleyball matches. A great 3A vs. 4A matchup was on the docket as the Olympia Bears made the trip south to take on the Kelso Hilanders. After sweeping Kelso last year, the Bears would look to bounce back from their first loss of the season against North Thurston. Kelso would be looking to make it a 2-0 start after earning a victory over Skyview in their opener on Monday.

Olympia 3, Kelso 0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-20)

Neither side took control of the opening set early as the two teams traded points out of the gate. It was all tied up at 6-6 before the Bears made their move. Addison Wilson went to the service line for Olympia and went on a run with six points in a row for the Bears. Netty Obungu was pivotal at the net on that run for Olympia and Ellie Johnson also stepped up throughout the first set both at the net and on the backline. Alice Fischer at one point had a beautiful quick pass over to net the Bears another point as they pulled away. Cora Moore did a nice job up front for Kelso in the early going while Isabella Moe and Harlee Barnes played well on the backline but Olympia ended up pulling away with the opening set 25-16.

Set #2 got off to a quicker start for Olympia as Alice Fischer served three points in a row including a couple of aces to get Olympia off to a hot start and a 4-0 lead. The Bears were money from the service line in the second set with seven aces coming from five different servers. Elyse Juergens, Stella Sheeran, Kate Wolter, and Ellie Johnson all got involved in the ace party. Royal Grafton did go on a nice run at the line for Kelso including an ace and sophomore Maali Amrine caught fire at the net for Kelso in the second set. Too much firepower from Olympia prevented the Lassies from making a serious run as Olympia pulled away with the second set 25-15

Kelso would attempt to avoid being swept in the third set and it started out very reminiscent of the opening set. The two teams traded points back and forth with neither able to build momentum. However, Addison Wilson really began to take control for the Bears at the net with the strong back line of River Sutch, Ellie Johnson, and Alice Fischer. Elyse Juergens also filled in nicely while Stella Sheeran began to find success at the net. Skylar Richie would get going for Kelso in the third and Sheena McGregor did a great job defensively at the net. Olympia just would not make very many mistakes and used a couple of short runs to build the lead as they took the third set 25-20 to complete the sweep.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the match went to Addison Wilson for Olympia. Wilson went on the pivotal run at the service line in the opening set to help Olympia pull away and start the match strong. As the match went on, she began to dominate at the net with some quick kills that beat the block attempts of Kelso as well. Her presence was felt the entire match and she seemed to be a big difference maker in this one.

The win moves Olympia to 2-1 on the season as they bounced back from their first loss. The Bears will return to action on Tuesday when they visit another GSHL school in Camas. Kelso tastes defeat for the first time this season and drop to 1-1 on the year. They will look to get back in the win column on Tuesday at 7pm when they travel to Tumwater in a match you can see right here on ESN.

For the full match replay, click here (Subscription Required)