Falcons and Crimson Bears volleyball to clash for No. 1 seed

Brewed with blood, sweat and tears since early September, the volleyball showdown between Juneau-Douglas High School and Thunder Mountain High School is finally ready to serve: the teams will clash for their last two conference games this weekend to decide Region V’s top seed.

The recipe for the season-ending nailbiter serves a packed gymnasium: take two teams from one town, apply talent evenly and simmer in a pressure cooker for two matches.

“It’s going to be a tough battle for the No. 1 seed,” Thunder Mountain High School junior middle hitter Mary Landez said. “This weekend is really going to test our team.”

“It’s going to be a game between our mindsets, who’s gonna be there and who’s not. We have to be very focused,” Juneau-Douglas senior setter Patricia Enriquez said at a Wednesday practice.

Thunder Mountain and Juneau-Douglas, both boasting conference-leading 4-2 records, stand knotted at the top of the Southeast Conference 4A standings above 2-6 Ketchikan. The outcome of this weekend’s games — one at TMHS, another at JDHS — determines the top seed at the Region V Tournament, a distinction that includes a crucial opening round bye.

If previous contests between the two teams are any indication of what to expect this weekend, volleyball fans are in for two tight matches. The teams split two early season bouts with TMHS coming out on top 3-2 in a Sept. 16 game (13-25, 25-15, 25-12, 20-25 and 15-10) and JDHS besting the Falcons 3-1 on Sept. 17 (25-19, 16-25, 14-25, 23-25).

Since last facing each other, each team has had time to push their game to the limits, leaving their rivals wondering what to expect from their peaking opponents. Thunder Mountain has been practicing new sets, or positional schemes, they hope will catch JDHS off guard this weekend.

“There’s a lot of new stuff we are going to be doing, a lot that we are going to have to work out,” Landez said. “We’ve been working really hard this week in practice trying to work the bugs out.”

“I am really happy with where we’re at,” Ibias said. “But this weekend we have to play error-free, that’s been one of our weaknesses. We’ll have the momentum and then serve the ball into the net and give them two points right after that. Juneau is too good to let that happen.”

JDHS varsity coach Leslie Kalbrener said her team has steadily built the mindset — and the defense — to win both these games.

“We’ve definitely come a long way, we’ve been working on our passing and our coverage and that’s where it all starts,” Kalbrener said. “Thunder Mountain tends to bring out the best in us. Our challenge against them will be keeping a lead. We tend to slow up three quarters of the way through a match and we can’t do that against them.”

The Falcons host Friday’s varsity game at 8 p.m. The Crimson Bears will finish their season at home by hosting the Falcons Saturday for a 6 p.m. match. Both matches will begin with senior night honors.

The Region V tournament takes place next weekend in Sitka.

 

Tiebreakers

If the teams split this weekend, the conference lead will come down to a few tiebreakers.

“It’s all going to come down to numbers,” Ibias said, explaining that, in the event of a match record tie, the team that has a better game record will earn the distinction of the No. 1 seed (the best team in three of five games wins a match; games are played to 25 points). “We beat them in five games (earlier this year), so if we split this weekend, we would need to win in three and lose in no less than four.”

In that scenario, JDHS and TMHS would tie in match and game records. The No. 1 seed would then be determined by point differential against each other.

• Contact Sports and Outdoors reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.