By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Small schools from across Southeast came to Sitka over the weekend to compete in a volleyball tournament.
With Sitka High and Mt. Edgecumbe High varsity volleyball resting after weeks of non-stop practice and matches, both local schools fielded their JV teams for the tournament.
Neither SHS nor MEHS kept formal statistics since the matches were scrimmages. Wolves JV coach Kristi Brady said that the matches were a chance “to learn, learn and grow.”
Sitka used the matches as a chance to test some of their players in unusual roles. Brady said that over the weekend “girls played in positions that they don’t play.”
Sitka also fielded a new player, Kia Lass, for whom this was the “first opportunity to play in some actual games,” Brady said. “She did really well.”
The Mt. Edgecumbe JV volleyball teams prepares for a match in the Small Schools Tournament, at MEHS. The varsity team travels to Anchorage this weeekend. (Photo provided by Laurie Salness)
This shifting of roles was useful for “understanding what their teammates’ roles are,” the coach said.
Sitka fielded multiple teams, including their JV, C-team, and a hybrid JV-varsity team.
Sitka High varsity coach Zaide Allen said “all of the other schools there, besides Edgecumbe, had their full varsities there.”
Brady noted that “it was very good for them (the players) mentally to just stretch themselves.”
On the Mt. Edgecumbe side, JV coach Lauria Salness noted that she also went into the tournament with a bit of a hybrid team.
Overall, she said, “the teams performed really well.”
Because MEHS is a boarding school that draws from across the state, Salness added that “for a lot of girls that come to Edgecumbe, it’s their first time with any experience with volleyball.”
Freshman Jada Dahl and junior Kennedy Langlie were Edgecumbe’s “standouts from the weekend.” Salness said that these two “normally play as our Liberos, but this weekend they played all around.”
Like Sitka, Edgecumbe used the tournament to try out having the team members playing in positions they usually didn’t play in.
Salness concluded that the girls, “all worked extremely hard and learned a lot.”
Both schools’ JV teams will compete again this weekend at the Juneau Jive tournament.
The two local varsity teams are headed to Anchorage this weekend for a tournament at Grace Christian High.
