Puyallup volleyball hoping Hunter’s breakout can lead team to turnaround

When Puyallup High volleyball coach Tony Batinovich went into the 2014 season, he knew his Vikings team was in rebuilding mode.

After years of being one of the top teams in the Class 4A South Puget Sound League South Division, Puyallup fell back to earth with a sixth-place finish and an abysmal 2-12 overall record.

Needless to say, it was a tough year for the Vikings.

“The nucleus of our core is — no disrespect to the seniors — our juniors and our sophomores,” said Batinovich about Puyallup’s 2015 varsity roster. In year two of the rebuild it’s more of the same.

It’s about the future of this team.

“We don’t have a senior on the team that’s been to the (state) tournament or the district tournament,” Batinovich said. “(But) for the sophomores and juniors, I want them to see what it’s like knowing they have (one to) two more years to get back there.”

This season looks to be different for the Vikings as the youth from last year is one year older with more game experience under their belt.

And the potential breakout player to lead Puyallup’s attack is junior hitter Jordan Hunter.

“I think we’ll be better than last year,” Hunter said. “We’re still young and still learning how to play with each other. We still have players who haven’t played, so we can only get better.”

“There’s some parts of the game that they’re getting better at, but there’s some parts where we are doing too much thinking,” Batinovich added. “Jordan is a good junior and she’s put in her time (to get better) in the offseason.”

Puyallup’s (1-2) early season schedule has been a good test for the team and its young hitter, as the first three games have come against teams that made it to 4A state tournament at Saint Martin’s University.

The hope is for the Vikings to see what it takes to compete against those teams that annually make it to state.

“We did it to them last year, and I thought, ‘Heck, do it to them again,’” Batinovich said of the tough scheduling.

Puyallup fell to 4A state runner-up Emerald Ridge (3-0, Sept. 10) and defending 4A champion Bellarmine Prep (3-1, Sept. 8) to open the season.

“These teams have really good depth and players who are smart,” Batinovich said. “They’re smart players, too. For Jordan, it was about learning from playing these teams, because you can’t just attack them head on. You have to know when and how to hit around those girls.”

Even with the hard losses, it’s Puyallup’s 3-0 home win over Gig Harbor (25-22, 25-18, 27-25) on Sept. 9 that has the Vikings thinking positive thoughts.

That game became Hunter’s breakout as the junior took over for Puyallup’s offense and led the Vikings to victory. She did everything Batinovich hoped his outside hitter would evolve into.

“Our team had a lot of energy ... that makes you hit better,” Hunter said.

Hunter led with 15 kills, her last one putting Puyallup ahead 26-25 in the match’s final game. Batinovich said Hunter should only get better as his junior hitter played with a sprained ankle in the Vikings’ first three matches.

“Well, it’s taped,” Hunter joked about her injury. “It still hurts — you just kind of play through it, I guess.”

Sophomore Anna Saelens led Puyallup with 31 assists against Gig Harbor.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 10:43 AM with the headline "Puyallup volleyball hoping Hunter’s breakout can lead team to turnaround."