Sitka Wolves Win Season's First Rivalry Match

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Created on Wednesday, 11 September 2024 15:20

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By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    Facing off in their first volleyball match of the season, Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe high schools competed in front of a roaring crowd Tuesday night, with the SHS Lady Wolves coming out on top in three closely contested sets.
    The teams were evenly matched, in strengths and weaknesses, and one would sometimes surge in a flurry of points scored off of powerful serves as the other’s defense faltered. Sitka won the first set 25-19, withstanding a last minute Edgecumbe rally that nearly evened the scoreboard. In the second set, the Lady Braves took an early lead through the combined talent of senior Lauren Cedar’s serving and a number of serve-receive errors on the part of the Wolves. But Sitka bounced back, tying the score 7-7 still early in the set, and grinding away a slow lead, eventually winning 25-23.

Sitka High’s Scarlet Galanin spikes as Mt. Edgcumbe’s Naomi Oxeroeok (8) and Gracelynn Friske (1) block Tues-day night at Sitka High. Sitka won in three sets, and will face off against Seward today. (Sentinel photo by James Poulson)

    “There were a lot of really good rallies, which are always fun to watch,” Sitka coach Zaide Allen said after the game. “And I thought we did a really good job of keeping in it, even when they’d get back into it, we’d do a good job of ending it and keeping the intensity.”
    Sitka’s hard hitters, such as seniors Scarlet Galanin and Madison Dill, were instrumental to the Wolves’ ability to crack Edgecumbe’s defense, but the Braves never let up, rebounding from an 8-point deficit in the middle of the second set to take a scant 23-22 lead in the final moments, propelled by a string of solid serves from senior Zenaida Andrew.
    Sitka took the second set in a series of jaw-clenching plays, the first ending with a point scored by Madison Dill, then another off a serve from Madison Campbell.
    The game was a series of high-intensity moments for Dill.
    “Throughout the game, especially during the long rallies, I had so much adrenaline that I was like… I need to get this pass. I was kind of freaking out a little bit, but calming down and kind of focusing and being positive with our team,” Dill said.
    Though errors made when serving and receiving serves cost Sitka – and Edgecumbe – numerous points, Dill stressed the need to roll with the punches.
    “Even if you do make the mistake again - everyone is going to make mistakes – as long as you learn from them and you stop it eventually,” she said.
    Sitka’s team this year is composed of juniors and seniors, while the MEHS squad experienced a high degree of turnover due to graduations last year.
    Hayla Trigg, Sitka’s libero and defensive specialist, said her team was a little on edge Tuesday night.
    “It was just the first set – I think we were just really, not nervous, not intimidated, but we were just very jittery, because it was our first home game and a lot of the seniors were just really excited,” Trigg said. “But it was great playing against them, and they’re a new team, because most of them graduated, so it was fun to play a newer team.”
    Mt. Edgecumbe again held an early lead in the third set, but Sitka took back the lead within a few minutes, though that didn’t prevent the Lady Braves from trying to remain level with their opponent until the final moments of play. Sitka won 25-16, sealing the best-of-five matches in their favor in three sets.
    Like Trigg, senior Scarlet Galanin was eager to see how the Wolves and Braves evolve over the season.
    “Since this was our first home game it was very built up, but the first set was a little scrambly… It’s cool to see Edgecumbe,” Galanin said, “because it is definitely different every beginning of the season with them and how it progresses, but it was cool to see how they play.”
    In the future, Galanin thinks the team needs to focus on “starting off strong, because we definitely will get scrambly and we’ll start moving up toward the end of the game.”
    Madison Dill wants the team to work on perfecting the basics.
    “Having the mentality that we just need to get the ball over, bump, set, hit. Just keep it simple,” Dill said.
    Win or lose, Trigg is eager for her senior season.
    “I hope that we’ll end our senior year season and at least have fun with it, even if we do lose, just know that we all worked really hard,” she said.
    With more matches coming up this week against Seward, coach Allen would like her team to work on containing strings of errors that cost the team so many points on Tuesday.
    “Just a lot of working on it. This was our third game of the season, so we’ve only played Juneau before this, you kind of come in expecting that there’s going to be a little bit of that, and using these games to see, ‘OK what do we need to take out of it and work on.’ Overall, I think there were some things that we really needed to clean up and work on, but we didn’t have a lot of hitting errors, which is nice,” Allen said.
    Sitka opened the season prior to Tuesday’s game with two wins over Juneau. Both Mt. Edgecumbe and Sitka face Seward High at home this week, starting today.

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