ROYAL CITY - The Royal High volleyball team is much-improved over last year but, still, wins are hard to come by in the South Central A Conference East.

The Knights opened conference play last week with a three-game comeback victory over River View, 20-25, 25-18, 25-18, 26-24. They fell in five to Wahluke, 21-25, 25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 8-15 for 1-1 mark.

The Knights then fell to 1-3 overall with a three-game non-league loss to White Swan, 18-25, 24-26, 26-28.

"It's tough to lose close games, but the girls are playing well," coach Paul Olsufka said. "We just need to execute better down the stretch and finish games off.

The win against River View was a showcase for Royal's Kayla Smith. She went 30-31 serving with five aces, and she had nine digs and seven kills. Her serving led to 23 points.

"A great win for the girls to start off league," Olsufka said. "This should be a boost in the girls' confidence."

Tonya Iverson went 14-14 serving with eight kills and five digs. Tahlia Ledezma had 11-13 serving with three aces, four digs and 21 assists. Morgan Small had 10 digs and three kills. And Rebecca Lee had 8-8 serving with three kills.

Smith was a leader again against Wahluke, but the load was more evenly spread.

Smith went 21-22 serving with three aces, eight kills and 13 digs. Jenks went 20-22 serving with two aces and 10 digs. Iverson went 24-25 serving with three kills, two blocks and eight digs.

Small went 17-17 serving with five kills, two blocks and 13 digs. Ledezma went 10-10 serving with two aces, 15 assists and six digs.

"Good games all the way around for both teams," Olsufka said. "They each played extremely hard and left everything on the court."

The White Swan match was not close in number of games played, but Royal forced extra time in two of the games.

In the second game, Royal was down 22-18 and came back to get within one point and then take the lead 24-23. The Knights got to serve three straight times for the win.

The Royal girls again fought back in the third game. Behind 24-17, they got a side-out, and Small came to the serving line at 24-18. She served six straight points to tie the score.

WS took the lead 25-24. Again Royal got the side-out, knotting the score at 25 each and taking the lead at 26-25.

Smith served 18-19 with three aces, seven digs, one block and five kills. Jenks went 9-11 serving with one ace, six digs, two assists and three kills.

Iverson had 7-7 serving with one block and 10 kills. Small served 13-13 with one ace. Ledezma went 11-12 serving with two aces and 21 assists.

Lee had four digs and two kills. Katie Ellis had two kills.