After a promising season start, the Viking volleyball team (five wins, eight losses to date) will not be going on to league competition. They succumbed to Shoreline 3-0 on Saturday, Oct. 24: 25-21 Shoreline, 25-16, Shoreline, 25-20, Shoreline.

It didn’t help that Shoreline is the number two team in Orcas’ league.

“It was the seniors’ last home game and there was a lot of emotion around that,” Coach Greg Sasan said. “Everyone wanted to play very well, and altogether we did play well. Our mistakes were at the serving line. We missed our serves. We hit it out, we missed the net, and it undermined our performance.”

Under the guidance of Coach Glen Hoogerhyde, Shoreline has been stepping up the pace of Shoreline’s volleyball program the last couple of years.

“I’ve known him for many years and he’s got the raw material and ability to take his team far,” Sasan said.

The Vikings volleyball team lost also to La Conner earlier in the week, but this was not unexpected as La Conner is the number one team in the state, and has won two state championships in a row and are headed there again this year.

“We lost to them 25-16, 25-7, and 25-8,” Sasan commented.

And the Vikings even hit all their serves that day.

“They are just monsters all around. The front row, the middle, the back,” Sasan said. “They play clubs and they start in middle school; that’s a long tradition there and they’ll be trying for their third state championship this year. We have athletes, but then we have other kids trying their best but that haven’t developed their confidence skills yet. That’s the hump I’m trying to get them over.”

The Vikings’ last two games of the season are Tuesday Oct. 27 away at Mt. Vernon Christian and then Thursday Oct. 29 away at Concrete.