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Crimson Bears spike nets at Anchorage invitational
JDHS volleyball team battles through Dimond Service tournament
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears played through the Dimond Service Volleyball Tournament over the weekend, earning important court time against the state’s toughest competition.
“The girls were not so shell-shocked when we went up to Anchorage,” JDHS coach Arnold Ibias said. “We have seen some of the teams before and we knew that we could play with them. Their confidence against the top five teams in the state is getting better each time we see them. Probably the best confidence builder was our match against Dimond.”
JDHS, the only Southeast team attending, opened the 21-team varsity tournament with pool play action Friday. The Crimson Bears were pitted against Dimond, West Valley, Grace Christian and Eagle River.
The Crimson Bears defeated Eagle River 2-1 (24-26, 26-24, 15-11), lost to West Valley 2-0 (25-20, 25-20) and Dimond 2-0 (25-6, 25-17), and defeated Grace Christian 2-1 (11-25, 25-23, 15-13).
“The score probably does not reflect how well we played against Dimond,” Ibias said. “But their coach used all four of their timeouts during the match because we were frustrating them with our defense. Our team doesn't have a lot of high flyers, so we have to rely on our passing to defend against Anchorage teams’ big hitters. We worked hard the two weeks that we had off on positioning and reading hitters, having the girls understand that a hard-hit ball is still only one point. Same with a mistake or an error it's one point and it's time to move on to the next point.”
Dimond won the Gold Bracket Tournament over the top-finishing teams from five pools. The Lynx advanced to the title game with wins over Palmer 2-0 (25-19, 25-17), Kenai 2-0 (25-18, 25-11) and South in the semifinals 2-0 (25-15, 25-21). South defeated Palmer 2-0 (25-18, 25-16) in the consolation final to earn the rematch against Dimond. The Lynx defeated the Wolverines 2-0 (25-16, 25-20) for the championship.
“That was another confidence booster knowing that we played well against the tournament champion,” Ibias said.
The Gold Bracket final standings were Dimond in first place, South second, Palmer third, Homer fourth, Chugiak and Kenai tied for fifth and Monroe and West Valley tied for seventh.
JDHS earned play in the Silver Bracket and opened with a loss to Bartlett 2-0 (25-23, 25-17). The Crimson Bears next won a consolation game over Valdez 2-0 (25-19, 25-20) and fell in the consolation final to Barrow 2-0 (25-19, 25-23).
Soldotna won the Silver Bracket, Bartlett placed second and Lathrop and West tied for third. Barrow won the Silver Bracket consolation, Juneau was second and Valdez and Grace Christian tied for third.
A Bronze Tournament Bracket was won by East Anchorage, while Eagle River placed second, followed by North Pole, Mt. City Christian Academy and Service.
JDHS will play Friday and Saturday at Ketchikan in their final conference games.
“That is what we have been working on, mental attitude against Ketchikan,” Ibias said. “You cannot take any team lightly, especially if you are going to play them four times in a row. Ketchikan have something to prove and I know they are working hard.”
The Crimson Bears then host the Lady Kings for the Region V Tournament Nov. 6-7. The two teams will play the best-of-three matches (each match is a best three-of-five sets) for the 4A Southeast crown and the Southeast state tournament bid. Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe will also attend to play for the 3A Southeast title and Southeast state tournament bid.
The JDHS JV attended the Dimond Service JV tournament. In a four-pool first round, the Crimson Bears JV finished 2-4. They lost to West Valley JV 2-0 (22-21, 20-16) and Dimond JV 2-0 (20-15, 20-15) and defeated Grace Christian JV 2-0 (20-11, 20-16).
Dimond won the JV Gold Bracket, followed by Service, South, Chugiak, Palmer, West, West Valley and Soldotna.
The JDHS JV placed third in the Silver Bracket, defeating Eagle River JV 2-0 (27-25, 25-20), falling to Kenai JV 2-1 (25-22, 19-25, 16-14) and defeating Valdez 2-0 (25-21, 25-16). Silver Bracket placings were East JV first, Kenai JV second, JDHS JV third, Valdez JV fourth, Eagle River JV fifth, GC JV sixth, Barrow JV seventh and North Pole JV eighth.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
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