The South Kitsap Wolves were both the givers and receivers of punishing matches in a 1-1 week for the volleyball program.

The previous week was a tiring one for South Kitsap, which played six matches in the first full week of October, including four in the Oct. 8 Sammamish tournament.

With minimal rest, the start to the week was a rough one as the Wolves were simply outmatched Oct. 10 in a straight sets loss to the visiting No. 5 Curtis Vikings. While there was a fight from South Kitsap in the early parts of the match, Curtis pulled away with a high-powered attack on offense.

The Wolves were outplayed in the serving game, with nearly a third of the Viking points coming via the ace. South Kitsap could not produce the same numbers on its serves, even while committing fewer service errors than its opponent.

It was still an improvement from the last time the two teams met when the Wolves were held to single digits in all three sets.

On Oct. 12, the Wolves got the chance to rebound from the loss against the winless Sumner Spartans, a team that had struggled to even win a set this season. The last set the Spartans won was, actually, against South Kitsap Sept. 20.

The Wolves were determined to keep that streak going and swept the Spartans on the road.

Both the offensive and defensive effort of the Wolves saw major improvement. Led by senior middle blocker Anna Harvey, who leads the team in both kills and blocks per game, South Kitsap secured its third win in district play this season.

With playoffs around the corner, South Kitsap sits at fourth place in the South Puget Sound League, just behind No. 24 Bellarmine.