After not taking the court for 17 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-time defending state 2B champion La Conner High volleyball team needed less than an hour to defeat league rival Orcas Island in the season opening match for both schools Thursday afternoon at Landy James Gym.

Waiting nearly a year and a half to play less than 60 minutes is not an ideal scenario, but La Conner is on a mission during its modified one-month spring campaign to make the best of a situation that is still a marked improvement over last fall when no volleyball was played because of the virus crisis.

“W...