Crimson Bears going to state tournament after sweeping Ketchikan in two games for Region V title

Juneau’s high school volleyball team is celebrating a trip to the state title tournament during its first year as a consolidated citywide school, while a young Ketchikan team with all of its players returning next year is happy they made the Crimson Bears work to earn the Region V title.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé captured the best-of-three-game series with two straight wins on its home court Friday and Saturday. But in both games the Ketchikan Kings delivered a jolt the Crimson Bears had to respond to, beginning with winning the opening set of Friday’s best-of-five contest before JDHS won the next three sets.

On Saturday the Crimson Bears came out roaring, winning the first two sets easily 25-12 and 25-14. But Ketchikan took control in the third set and won it decisively 25-15, forcing Juneau to regroup to clinch the regional title with a dominant 25-9 final set.

“Today we felt really confident,” said Neela Thomas, a junior who served four straight points — including an ace — after the score was 21-9 in the fourth set to win Saturday’s game. “We just want to be as hype as possible because it’s some of our seniors’ last home game and we definitely wanted to win. And I think Kayhi and us both wanted it, but I think we just wanted it more.”

But during the third set it was almost as if the teams had switched uniforms, as the Kings jumped out to an early lead and held a steady edge throughout.

“I think sometimes our team struggles with momentum, said Braith Dihle, a JDHS junior who was named to the all-conference team after the game. “So I think we just started off at a low level with low energy and we weren’t super able to ride it back up. And I think after that third set we realized we really need to push, and be super-energetic and excited for everyone, and that helped us.”

Ketchikan coach Dennis Walsh said his team had a chance against Juneau, but “we knew we had to play extremely close to perfection…because we don’t have the size that JD does.”

“I think the girls did a good job of mixing it up,” he said. “You know, we got a little predictable the first two sets whenever we were pushing the ball, or dinking the ball, or hitting the ball. JD does a good job of reading where we’re hitting and we play each other a lot, so they know our tendencies just like we know theirs. And so we told the girls in the huddle ‘Mix it up.”

But in the fourth set the Crimson Bears “just served really well,” Walsh said.

“Their first two servers were so solid and we made a couple passing errors,” he said. “And volleyball is that way. It’s a momentum kind of sport.”

Both teams went through considerable growth during the season. Juneau had players who were at two competing local schools last year getting familiar with each other as teammates, while Ketchikan’s varsity squad had no seniors as their season came to a close. JDHS said Jody Levernier said she felt nervous entering the regional tournament despite her team’s edge in experience.

“I think that we saw Ketchikan has made a lot of progress in this season and we just kept talking about not taking Ketchikan for granted,” she said. “I think that my girls can play really well, but I also know that they have times where they struggle and they have to be on their game. And so it was just a little anxious waiting to see how they were going to come out.”

Getting hit with the setback of Friday’s opening set loss likely helped the Crimson Bears to start strong Saturday, Levernier said. But momentum shifted in the third set and “sometimes when it happens, it goes fast.” She said she made some player shifts entering the fourth set that got her team back on track.

Levernier said that she hasn’t yet thought about her strategy for the team when they compete in the 2024 Alaska High School Volleyball State Championships scheduled next Thursday through Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

“When we go up north their game is a lot faster than what you saw today so we need to incorporate that into practice,” she said. “And we only get two practices in Monday and Tuesday. So we just need to pick up the speed of our game and focus on the basics always no matter who we play.”

Juneau is entering the state tournament with an overall record of 15-27-5 — including a 4-0 conference record against Ketchikan, since consolidation meant Region V was a two-team conference this year — meaning it will likely begin bracket play as one of the lower-seeded teams. Meanwhile, defending 4A champion Wasilla High School is 39-3-2 as of Saturday night, including two wins in October against JDHS, giving the Crimson Bears a sense of the hill they will need to climb to reach the top.

But Dihle said they’ve had plenty of chances to play both on the road and against many of the teams they’ll be facing, so the team should be prepared.

“We’ve been to a lot of tournaments up north and we’ve seen a lot of the people who are going be at state,” she said. “So I feel nervous, but excited and ready. I’m ready to go.”

Individual Region V tournament honors

All Conference:

Chelsey Weber: KHS

Payton Hagan: KHS

Lavinia Ma’ake: JD

Braith Dihle” JD

Good Sport:

Cambry Lockhart: JD

Evelyn Richards: JD

Genevieve Halbert: KHS

Addi Lewis: KHS

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.