By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
After securing the regional volleyball championship title two weeks ago, the Sitka High Lady Wolves made it through tough competition to place third at the state tournament, Saturday in Anchorage. The team won two and lost two matches at the end-of-season competition.
Getting so close to the championship game, junior Dalila Callahan told the Sentinel, was a solid way to conclude the season. But she hopes the team can perform even better next year.
“Getting third place, I believe that is a huge accomplishment for us. That’s the highest we’ve ever gotten (at the state tournament),” Callahan said. “But it’s also a hunger thing. We’re still hungry for more and we want that first place title.”
Sitka High senior Ava Brady receives a serve during a volleyball game in the regular season at Mt. Edgecumbe High. Mecca Goldsberry stands ready on the left, with Hayla Trigg on the right. (Sentinel photo by James Poulson)
While in recent years the current Sitka High volleyball team has consistently taken the Region V 3A title against their sole opponent, the Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves, the Lady Wolves have sometimes struggled in the state bracket.
Like Callahan, sophomore Jaira Costelo hopes the team will use the offseason to prepare for next year.
“It’s very motivating to work harder in the offseason and to just work hard… and be in the championship game next year,” Costelo said.
Another Lady Wolves sophomore, Elise Brady, said the third place finish left her “disappointed, but also, like Dalila said, just coming out in third place… makes you want to try even harder next year and go for first.”
Sitka’s team is fairly young this season, with only three seniors on the predominantly sophomore squad.
The fact that the team is so young, sophomore Mecca Goldsberry noted, means the athletes still have time to learn and develop their skills on the court.
“We’re still a young team. So I’m excited for the next two years to see how we play because we’re already very strong with a young team,” Goldsberry said. “And I feel like we just need to work harder in the offseason, and work harder during our season.”
Sitka High opened the tournament with a 3-0 win against Nikiski on Thursday, Nov. 10. The set scores were 25-21, 25-13 and 25-21. Senior Ava Brady credited the win on her team’s coordination.
“We just flowed really well together,” she said.
It took time for the team to gain momentum, sophomore Hayla Trigg added, but once Sitka got in gear, they were hard to stop.
“We were all pretty nervous, since most of our team hasn’t really played at state. But we got into our groove after the first set and were able to pass them,” Trigg said.
Later on the same day, Sitka followed up the win over Nikiski by defeating Monroe Catholic, again in only three sets. Volleyball matches are won by the first team to win three out of five sets.
Sitka beat Monroe 25-15, 25-10 and 25-16.
Those first two games were a demonstration of the Lady Wolves at their finest, Elise Brady said.
“We played really well together as a team. That’s probably one of our best games, those first two games we won are probably the best games we’ve ever played.”
Costelo said the team built a cycle of winning in the tournament’s opening matches.
“Winning that first game and having it be a good game carried on to our next game, which made us play good as well,” Costelo said.
Monroe’s team got frustrated during their sets, Goldsberry said.
“We played strong against Monroe and we played smart against them. And we were able to get them frustrated, which makes you want to play even harder because you know that they’re getting frustrated,” she said.
But Sitka’s luck ran out on Friday, Nov. 11, when the team faced Kenai Central. Sitka lost in three sets, 25-16, 25-21 and 25-17.
Facing a dominant and self-assured team such as Kenai, Goldsberry said, is particularly challenging.
“They’re also a confident team because they have won a lot of games. So sometimes it can be hard playing against a team that comes in kind of cocky or confident,” Goldsberry said.
Kenai fielded a team that proved capable and versatile, Ava Brady added.
“They run a fast offense, and they cover the floor pretty well, so it’s tough to get balls down,” the senior said.
Callahan highlighted the accuracy of Kenai’s hitters.
“They’re a smart team and they put the ball where we weren’t,” she said.
Kenai Central secured the state championship title the next day.
Following that loss, the Wolves moved into the consolation bracket, where they fell to Valdez 26-24, 25-15 and 25-12.
Unlike Kenai’s flexible and well-rounded squad, Goldsberry said Valdez excelled thanks to their middle hitters.
“Their middles – that’s pretty much what killed us. Other than that, they don’t have it. There’s not that much,” Goldsberry said. “Kenai has multiple hitters and multiple people who know where to put the ball, (Valdez) really just has their middles and their goal is just to set their middles up, every play.”
In Trigg’s view, the Lady Wolves struggled to recover mentally following the initial loss to Kenai.
“Our loss against Kenai really kind of went into the Valdez game,” Trigg said. “But not like a lot… It felt like there wasn’t a lot of energy. And I feel like when we have a lot of good energy, we do really well.”
After the second loss, Sitka’s volleyball season was done. Valdez fell to Kenai in the championship match and took second place out of eight teams in the competition.
With her final high school volleyball season finished, Ava Brady hopes the team will work hard to secure a state title next year.
“I’m just going to miss playing sports. I hope they work hard to take home a championship,” she said. Brady plans to begin studying technology engineering at Southern Utah University in the fall of 2023.
Though the team is losing a dominant hitter in Brady, Costelo is looking forward to next year’s season already.
“I think that it’s very cool to be a young team and have a super successful season. And it just makes me excited for our future seasons and how we’re going to play… Most of us have played together since middle school. So I feel like our chemistry is really good, which will help create an even better team throughout the years,” Costelo said.
Looking back on the season, Goldsberry underscored her team’s tenacity.
“We do pretty well coming back if we’re down,” she said. “We’ve had games where we’re down by eight or almost ten or something and we come back. We don’t just roll over and die.”
