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JDHS volleyball team set for season play
- Klas Stolpe
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
Crimson Bears will open 2026-27 campaign at home against Sitka Wolves
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The 4A Southeast Conference Region V champion Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears volleyball team opens their season by hosting the 3A SEC Region V champion Sitka Wolves on Friday and Saturday.
“I am excited to start the season off hopefully with a win this weekend,” senior Bri Powers said. “We have been doing a lot of conditioning, and I am excited and looking forward to the season, and regions to beat Ketchikan as well. The conditioning has been really good for us, and I am really excited to see what the new coach can do for us and what we can do better this year than last year.”
Powers was an inspirational floor player last season — a reliable setter who will be relied on again to get plays rolling.
“Definitely just having a strong attitude,” she said. “Stepping up as a senior for the team.”
First-year JDHS head coach Arnold Ibias brings with him a team-first mentality.
“We prepare so we are not surprised,” Ibias said. “We are a bunch of individuals who form a team, not a team of individuals. We support, we lift up and we will accept failure to become great.”
The Crimson Bears graduated seven of their 13 state players, including all-state hitter Gwen Nizich and all-state setter Cambry Lockhart. JDHS won regions and placed fifth at state. The returning seniors are all academically strong and a kind and fun group representative of JDHS.
Returning starters include Powers, all-state senior outside hitter Liliane Veikoso, senior Leila Cooper and junior Ruby Koski, with substantial minutes earned by senior June Troxel and junior Nellie Stowers.
Troxel plays in an opposite hitter position, which showcases her strength in the air and at the net. She is also one of the key setters. She can play any position on the floor.
“I am looking forward to playing with this group of girls,” Troxel said. “Definitely we want to get another region championship again this year, that would be great. I think this group of girls could definitely do it as well, especially with the new coaching staff. I am super excited to see how are games go this weekend. And I think we everything we have already built from last year this season will turn out how we hoped.”
Ibias replaces Jody Levernier, who guided the Crimson Bears to back-to-back region titles before retiring after last season’s 6-0 conference record (26-20 overall). In her seven seasons, the Crimson Bears won the last three region titles. The now-defunct Thunder Mountain High School won titles from 2021-2023, while 2020 was the COVID season. Levernier coached Dzantik’i Henni Middle School volleyball from 2000-2018.
“We plan to earn our points this year,” Ibias said. “Not waiting to get points off of the other team’s unforced error. We want to play a cleaner game with more attacking and less free balls… The most impressive thing this year is the amount of talent we have, from the varsity down to the Crimson team. The coaches had a long and difficult time choosing the teams. That is never a bad thing.”
Ibias started coaching basketball at Marie Drake in 1990. He coached parks and recreation basketball in 1998, basketball and volleyball at Dzantik’i Henni in 2005, JV basketball and volleyball at TMHS in 2009 and varsity volleyball at TMHS from 2015-2018. After a year off, he coached JV volleyball in ’19 and Ketchikan High in 2023. He helped start and coach the Thunder Mountain Volleyball Club, has coached at Gonzaga basketball camps and Brigham Young University and Montana University volleyball camps, as well as sports camps around Southeast.
“This year I am also hoping to win another region championship,” senior Liliane Veikoso said. “We have a new coaching staff, with new drills and things with coach Arnold. We have been improving, especially in stamina.”
Veikoso was a force from the service line last season and a power hitter and defender at the net, as well as an important setter.
“I was staying in the gym all summer to improve for this season,” Veikoso said. “Being able to go and scrimmage people up in Anchorage and going to camps.”
Stowers is starting her second season for the Crimson Bears after moving to Juneau from Hawaii as part of a Coast Guard family. Playing the opposite hitter position allows Stowers to use her athletic game on attacks.
“I am just really excited to work with this squad again,” Stowers said. “This is my second year coming back with the team and we have a really strong team environment already. We all work together really well. I think as long as we just keep our attitudes up and we just encourage one another we can get really far.”
Stowers said last season’s first experience with Alaska volleyball was “really different. I really enjoyed traveling with the squad and getting close with the teammates. The competition is definitely the same and we work really hard each and every day on this team. I am really excited about what we can do this year.”
Junior outside hitter Ruby Koski is one of the team’s best hitters and a solid defender at the net. She was supposed to be a swing player, along with Stowers, last season, but both improved so much they were invaluable on the varsity.
“I am excited about the new coaching staff,” Koski said. “And I really hope the team chemistry from last season is going to keep up this year. Starting last year was definitely fun and I hope that continues this year. It is fun to play Ketchikan and Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe, and have chemistry with other teams because we do play them quite a bit and we have friends on the other teams. Sitka this weekend should be fun. I am excited to see how our team does against them, the first rally of the year should be great.”
Senior Leila Cooper also said she is excited for the season. She will be relied on as a defensive specialist, taking over the role from graduate Lockhart. She is also one of the team’s best servers.
“We have a new coaching atmosphere and a bunch of familiar faces,” Cooper said. “I think this year is going to be good. I hope we can win regions and go on to state. Our team chemistry got really good towards the end of last season. We are all great friends and I hope to carry on that momentum, and the experience from state, into this season.”
Rounding out the varsity are seniors Macy Summers, Haley Gilbert, Clairee Overson, Analia Perry, Faith Contreras and sophomore Winter Osterhout.
To keep pace with the large number of 60 athletes across four teams, Ibias has compiled a healthy supporting staff.
Keeping stats will be JDHS senior Aylin Wolter, and team managers are senior Jethro Canos and freshman Geo Abad. Junior Varsity coaches are Kylie Ibias and Kim Ferrin. C-Team coaches are Peter Sidmore and Paige Adams. Crimson coaches are Kiley Stevens and Ben Iona. Volunteer coaches are Steven Stowers, Avei Tuvaifale, Solveig Wolter, Timber Barnett and Maddie McKeown.
The Crimson Bears won the Region V tournament last season, sweeping their only conference rival, Ketchikan, in two matches, 3-0 (27-25, 25-16, 25-19) and 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-16).
JDHS opened the 2025 ASAA Volleyball State Championships at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center, falling 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-21) to the Dimond Lynx.
JDHS next defeated the Lathrop Malemutes 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 25-16) and was eliminated from the tournament in their second match of the day, falling to the Service Cougars 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-19).
Friday game times: 5 p.m. JV vs Sitka best-of-three games; 6 p.m. Varsity vs. Sitka best-of-five games. Saturday game times: 2:30 p.m. Crimson vs. C team intersquad scrimmage; 4 p.m. JV vs. Sitka; 5 p.m. Varsity vs. Sitka.
JDHS VOLLEYBALL ROSTERS
Varsity:
#1 June Troxel, sr; #2 Winter Osterhout, so; #3 Brianna (Bri) Powers, sr; #4 Macy Summers, sr; #5 Leila Cooper, sr; #6 Nellie Stowers, jr; #7 Haley Gilbert, sr; #8 Clairee Overson, sr; #9 Ruby Koski, jr; #10 Analia Perry, sr; #11 Faith Contreras, sr; #17 Liliane Veikoso, sr.
JV Team:
#1 Zoe Tagsip, jr; #2 Hannah Rachel Plang, so; #5 Kaneisi Talamai, fr; #6 Noella Burgess, so; #7 Mya Hayes, jr; #8 Sinira Tomanogi, fr; #11 Victoria (Tori) Petrie, so; #12 Brynlie Tingey, jr; #13 Bela Pyare, so; #14 Madeline (Maddie) Tingey, jr; #15 Cassandra (Cassie) Chenoweth, sr; #16 Serena Huang, so.
C Team:
#1 Porter Love, fr; #2 Ashley Rosales, jr; #3 Mandi Harris, jr; #4 Marin Lowell, fr; #5 Taylor Petrie, sr; #6 Destiny Su’a, jr; #7 Regan Salisbury, sr; #8 Kristyanna (Kristy) Lohrey, sr; #9 Evelyn (Evie) Gilbert, so; #10 Isla McElmurry, so; #11 Alea Faatoia, so; #12 Mikenna Swanson, jr; #13 Gretta Stearns, so; #14 Hina’i Kuma, fr; #16 Emelia (Emmy) Boghosian, fr; #18 Mareanna Isaako, fr; #19 Thea Duncan, so; #21 Arramina Whitmore, jr; #22 Jackie Enele, so.
Crimson Team:
#1 Bailey Friedrichs, fr; #2 Azaynalynn Laguido, fr; #3 Allie Simonson, fr; #5 Malia Maller, fr; #6 Ruth Summers, fr; #10 Janessa Johnson-Ozenna, fr; #12 Kylie Lohrey, jr; #14 Cadance Hills, fr; #15 Anjali Padhi, jr; #16 Ava Stell, so; #17 Mara Stedman, fr; #18 Perez Summer, fr; #19 Lea Kugelmann, fr; #20 Kristen Milton, fr; #21 Hannah Dean, fr; #23 Josie Reid, so; #25 Shaylynn Tupou, fr; #27 Lily Abel, so.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
