It was a long day at the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium on Saturday, but Ketchikan and Juneau-Douglas high schools completed two conference matches on the schedule, each winning one.
The first matches of the day began at 10 a.m., with a C-team match, and the final match of the night, the second varsity match, wrapped up shortly before 10:30 p.m.
Kayhi varsity swept the first match of the day over Juneau-Douglas, 25-20, 25-17, 25-18, and fell in the second match in five sets by scores of 25-19, 19-25, 25-20, 9-25, 15-17.
“I thought all the way up until the varsity matches tonight, we learned a lot, played a lot and we just totally fizzled out at the end,” Kayhi head coach Naomi Michalsen said. “My varsity girls refereed today, all of them kept score. We had to do other things that took away from rest and food. I’m not saying that’s why we lost but we didn’t get a break. For some reason, I guess there was a ref in town that couldn’t make it for some reason.
“We survived the day, everybody pitched in and we got through the day.”
Kayhi Activities Director Jenn Smith said the matches were all played on Saturday due to a deal brokered to save each school money.
“We asked to play Thunder Mountain and Juneau-Douglas on the same weekend to save money,” Smith said. “Juneau-Douglas asked if they could ferry here to save money, and since they did that, they could only stay for one day.”
MATCH 1
Kayhi and Juneau-Douglas were neck and neck early on in the first set, neither team taking more than a two point lead until, with the set tied 10-10, Kayhi went on a 6-2 run to go up 16-12. Juneau-Douglas responded with a 6-1 run of its own to take a one-point lead before Kayhi swung momentum back its way to finish off the first set on a 8-2 run, winning 25-20.
Kayhi dominated the second set, racing out to a 7-2 lead, eventually building it to a 23-11 score. Juneau-Douglas went on a 6-0 run to close the gap to 23-17, but Kayhi finished the job to close out the second set 25-17.
Set three was reminiscent of set one, with neither team pulling ahead early. The back-and-forth battle was tied at 14 when Kayhi went on a 10-4 run en route to a 25-18 victory to finish the sweep.
MATCH 2
Juneau-Douglas had to battle back from a two sets to one deficit going into the fourth set to earn the victory on Saturday evening.
Kayhi had just won its second set of the match, 25-20, and the Lady Crimson Bears had to make a charge to get back into it. Excellent defense by the Lady Crimson Bears coupled with Kayhi mistakes led to a 16-2 run that capped off the fourth set of the match with the Lady Crimson Bears winning 25-9.
The fifth set of the match didn’t see one team take more than a two-point lead the entire set. Trailing 8-6, Ketchikan libero Sherrine Bautista served on a 4-0 Kayhi run to put the Lady Kings in front 10-8, and it looked like the Lady Kings were in control.
Kayhi had an opportunity to win the second match with a 14-12 lead, but a missed serve kept the Lady Crimson Bears in the match. Juneau-Douglas setter Shaylin Cesar set up Abby Meiners, who tipped it over to tie the match at 14.
Juneau-Douglas and Kayhi traded points before the Lady Crimson Bears scored two points in a row to take the fifth set and the match.
“Juneau played great defense and didn’t miss a serve, and we really struggled with out serves toward the end in the varsity matches. That was not OK,” Michalsen said.
Kayhi hosts Thunder Mountain next weekend and Juneau-Douglas has a bye week, according to schedule on www.asaaregion5.com
JV scores
MATCH 1: Ketchikan def. Juneau-Douglas 25-21, 8-25, 17-25, 25-14, 15-10
MATCH 2: Ketchikan def. Juneau-Douglas 25-16, 22-25, 25-17, 15-13
C-team scores
MATCH 1: Ketchikan def. Juneau-Douglas 25-15, 26-24, 26-24
MATCH 2: Ketchikan def. Juneau-Douglas 25-23, 25-12, 25-19
