Don’t poke the bear…the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears.
That was the lesson the visiting Ketchikan varsity volleyball team learned Friday in the opening match of the Region V Volleyball Championships at Juneau’s George Houston Gymnasium.
Kayhi won the first set of the best-of-five set match 25-20, but JDHS stormed back to win the next three sets 25-9, 25-11 and 25-18 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three match championship series.
“Well I feel good now,” JDHS coach Jody Levernier said after the match. “It was nerve-wracking, a wave of emotions coming into this because I know how they can play and I also know how they can struggle.”
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Evelyn Richards blocks a spike by Ketchikan junior Addisen Zink (8) during the Crimson Bears 20-25, 25-9, 25-11, 25-18 match win Friday during the Region V Volleyball Championships at Juneau’s George Houston Gymnasium. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Kayhi used some competitive net play by junior Genevieve Halbert, and strong service by juniors Chelsey Weber and Payton Hagan to lead 10-4, 12-6 and 18-10 during the first set.
JDHS could only exchange points down the stretch until junior Lavinia Ma’ake killed a shot to trail 24-18 and junior Neela Thomas served two aces to close the score to 24-20. A hard JDHS serve was dug up by Kayhi’s Hagan and landed in a blank spot on the Crimson Bears side for the Kings’ win.
“Obviously the first set was good for us, we put the pressure back on them,” Ketchikan coach Dennis Walsh said. “We got just about every one of our serves in and a lot of free balls went our way, and Juneau made some mistakes so we ended up doing well in that set. And then of course we flipped it a bit, we started to make serve errors and stuff that has been plaguing us a little bit all season long.”
JDHS stormed back in set two behind a kill by sophomore June Troxel to win service, and six straight service points by sophomore Leila Cooper that included two blocks by Thomas, two aces by Cooper and a kill by Ma’ake for a 7-0 lead.
“I think it just all starts with our energy,” JDHS’ Ma’ake said. “Just focusing on the basics. And also just communicating to each other so that we know where we are at. So we are not reaching behind. It is all trust…trust and communication. Encouraging words.”
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé sophomore June Troxel serves during the Crimson Bears 20-25, 25-9, 25-11, 25-18 match win over Ketchikan on Friday during the Region V Volleyball Championships at Juneau’s George Houston Gymnasium. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
After Kayhi’s Halbert served for three points, JDHS junior Natalia Harris tipped for possession and Troxel served to 13-3 with two aces and multiple Kayhi missed hits.
JDHS continued to limit Kayhi’s offense and Ma’ake served to 18-7, and after a service error by both teams Crimson Bears junior Cambry Lockhart served to 24-8 with two aces, two blocks by Thomas and a tip shot by Thomas.
A misshit game service to Kayhi, but Thomas blocked the set winner for 25-9.
“Mainly when I’m at the net I just want to put every ball to the ground,” Thomas said. “Even on defense I don’t want it to come on my side of the net. So I’m just trying to be as aggressive as I can and as fast as I can. I need to work on my timing but I try to be as fast and aggressive as I can.”
In set three the Crimson Bears again jumped out to a 4-0 lead with Cooper serving two aces and Harris blocking a shot.
Troxel served the Crimson Bears to 10-1 with an ace and kills by Harris, Ma’ake and junior Braith Dihle.
“I was really excited to play in this game,” Dihle said. “And I went into the game with the goal of snapping my wrist and swinging all the way through, and I went in feeling confident and excited, and I think that helped my mental game which in turn helps my physical game on the court. So I think my attitude and my teammates too were encouraging me, and I had great sets this game and it was super fun. And it was really fun to hit the ball.”
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Lavinia Ma’ake (11) kills a shot against Ketchikan juniors Payton Hagan and Addisen Zink (8) during the Crimson Bears 20-25, 25-9, 25-11, 25-18 match win Friday during the Region V Volleyball Championships at Juneau’s George Houston Gymnasium. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
After point exchanges Ma’ake served JDHS to an 18-4 advantage with two aces, two blocks from senior Evelyn Richards and a kill by senior Tatum Billings.
JDHS would only give up the ball on service errors and end the game on a kill by Ma’ake for 25-11.
“We’ve just been practicing our blocking a lot,” Richards said. “We have this thing that we like to call ‘Big Bertha’ and we hold it up and basically we try to hit around it and we just kind of try to be ‘Big Bertha.’ So we keep our hands big and we just get it right.”
The JDHS practice time with the “Big Bertha” blocking pad was key against a revamped Kayhi offense.
“They switched up their front row this week,” Richards said. “Basically we just can’t let them get to us and if we miss a ball it’s okay, we just have to be quicker and get our hands up higher.”
JDHS scored the first point in the final set, but Kayhi would win challenges at the net to battle point for point and take a 7-5 lead.
Ma’ake served JDHS to an 8-7 lead including an ace and kills by Richards and Billings, but Kayhi junior Addizen Zink killed for service and aced for a 9-8 advantage.
The sides exchanged points until Harris blocked a shot to tie the set at 12-12, and Troxel served to 15-12 with an ace and a Harris kill.
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Braith Dihle kills a shot against Ketchikan sophomore Avah Bittle (11) and junior Payton Hagan (9) during the Crimson Bears 20-25, 25-9, 25-11, 25-18 match win Friday during the Region V Volleyball Championships at Juneau’s George Houston Gymnasium. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Ketchikan would tie the set one last time at 16-16 with Kayhi junior Chloe Larna at service. But JDHS’ Ma’ake killed for possession, and Harris served to 22-16 with three aces and a kill, plus another kill by Ma’ake.
“I am taking my time,” Harris said of her serving. “I am definitely using all the seconds you have. And also I’m just being confident when I’m out there, just wanting to help my team out and get a point to make sure we get the win.”
After an exchange of service Billings tipped a shot for a 23-17 advantage.
A JDHS mishit gave Kayhi service, but an error put possession back to the Crimson Bears leading 24-18 and Lockhart aced a serve to win the match.
“We just wanted to start out strong so then it keeps on going through the weekend,” Harris said. “And if we have good movement and everyone is positive it helps us keep on going. We just have to fight harder because they did take a set off us so we just have to make sure tomorrow we are on our ‘A’ game again.”
JDHS and Ketchikan play match two Saturday at 2 p.m. A win by the Crimson Bears earns JDHS the region title and a trip to state. A loss and both teams play again at 6 p.m. for the championship.
“You could see in that last set it was pretty even,” Kayhi’s Walsh said. “We did have a couple serve errors at the end. We just have to concentrate on the basics and defending first. You can see a lot of the balls went into the net when we were attacking, we have to play defense first. We’re getting there. A little bit of nerves for sure. We’re a young team, but we’ve come a long way this season and you never know.”
Troxel led JDHS with five aces, Cooper and Harris four apiece, Lockhart and Thomas three apiece, and Ma’ake one.
Troxel had 16 points scored on her service, Cooper 13, Ma’ake eight, Lockhart seven, Harris six and Thomas four.
Unofficially Ma’ake had eight kills, Dihle seven, Billings and Harris five apiece, Thomas five and Richards three.
Thomas had seven blocks, Harris six, and Richards three.
Sophomores Brie Powers and Cooper had 15 assists apiece.
Lockhart led with 25 digs, Troxel 13, Ma’ake 11, Dihle six, Powers and Thomas three apiece, Billings, Cooper and Harris two each, and Richards one.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
