For the La Conner High volleyball team, it’s a simple matter of reward outweighing risk.

Putting themselves on the line — and at the net — against larger school foes in non-league matches runs the risk of suffering deflating early losses.

But the reward of character-building tests — win or lose — is just too great for Lady Braves head coach Suzanne Marble to pass up.

“We like to push our girls by playing a tough non-league schedule,” she said Sunday.

By then, the Lady Braves had swept both 4A Woodinville and 3A Squalicum at home, and fared quite nicely in a tou...