OLYMPIA — The freshmen-heavy offense for the South Puget Sound Community College volleyball team has been a project throughout the 2026 season so far.
All but two players on the 12-deep roster are new to the program this year, and finding consistency on offense has inevitably been tricky at times.
When the Clippers offense has been productive, Victoria Valenti has been on the right side of things, both figuratively and literally. Sprinkle in Kylee Phillips and Anastasia Morokhova on the outside and Mary Bobryk in the middle, and the Clippers have a solid foundation from which to build.
That recipe was successful for SPSCC in a 3-1 win over Tacoma Community College at home Wednesday, Oct. 7. Valenti pounded 14 kills, while Bobryk enjoyed her best offensive day as a collegian with a career-high 13 kills and an impressive 52.2% hit percentage.
But at the center of the machine is sophomore setter Jessie McCoy, who has stepped up as the captain of the Clippers’ ship and become one of the top players at her position in the NWAC. Her 40 assists against TCC were at the forefront of SPSCC’s offensive versatility and recent focus on consistency.
“The past couple of weeks, we’ve been working on consistency and knowing who’s out on the court and what we can do to get to the next point,” second-year SPSCC head coach Emme Price said. “Our middles this year have really taken the show in being a middle-heavy offense. We’ve been working on shots constantly for weeks.”
SPSCC had to climb out of a 5-1 deficit early in the first set and did so with dump kills and an ace by McCoy. Kryssa Petroff’s ace put the Clippers ahead 9-8, and they led the rest of the way en route to a 25-21 first-set win.
McCoy has utilized the tempo pass within the Clippers offense, giving the defense minimal time to react to her middle spiking the ball milliseconds after leaving her hands. This was a key method for SPSCC to get Bobryk involved.
After a 6-0 run helped the Clippers build a lead as large as seven points in set two, a furious Titans rally made it a 21-21 game. Valenti took over in the final moments with a pair of kills to seesaw the momentum back in favor of SPSCC.
“Having our right side in Victoria in the back row really helps me stay calm because I know I can throw it up there and she’s always going to hit it,” McCoy said.
Both teams were sloppy to start the third set. At one point, there were seven or eight consecutive plays where the ball landed out of bounds on an attack error or service error. An 8-8 tie turned into a 14-10 Clippers lead, but the Titans scrapped to keep the set close.
Following a total of 12 ties and five lead changes in the frame, Tacoma fought back in the face of a sweep down 24-23 and scored the final three points to force a fourth set.
Valenti, Petroff and Kylee Phillips were difficult to defend in the fourth set, punishing the Titans defense as SPSCC scored seven unanswered early to take command. The Clippers led by as large a margin as nine in a 25-18 fourth-set clincher, giving them their second NWAC win of the season.
Twenty games into Price’s second season, SPSCC stands in better positioning in terms of team culture than it ever did last year, a point acknowledged by both Price and McCoy.
The on-court connection has been established because of a multitude of team-bonding activities this offseason, including hikes, scavenger hunts, and even a sleepover in the athletic facility.
“I appreciate how much they’ve pushed for team chemistry. When I came in last year, we were floundering a bit,” Price said. “This year, they all truly are friends and stick up for each other. If we’re having a tough day, they turn around and immediately pick a teammate back up, and that’s what I want in my team culture.”
SPSCC is 8-12 overall and has a 2-4 record in the NWAC entering a home matchup against Central College on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
