After one day of J.I.V.E., it was Juneau-Douglas High School and Petersburg who sported the best records in round-robin play at 5-1.
In their first round-robin game of the tournament, JDHS crushed Petersburg 25-11. However, the Vikings won all five of their games that followed Friday at JDHS.
After defeating Petersburg, the Crimson Bears beat Stika (25-17), Ketchikan (25-15), Thunder Mountain (26-24) and Wrangell (25-11). They could not however get past Mount Edgecumbe, who in the second game beat them 25-18.
TMHS started the tournament off with four wins over Metlakaktla (25-18), Wrangell (25-13) and Klawock (25-14) and Craig (25-18). The Falcons would finish the day with two straight losses against Mount Edgecumbe (24-26) and JDHS (24-26).
As the only team in the tournament on Friday to defeat the hometown teams, Mount Edgecumbe met their match against Petersburg and Sitka. The Lady Braves finished Friday’s round-robin play at 3-2.
Both the Falcons and Crimson Bears played three more games on Saturday before moving on to the elimination round. Check the Empire online to find out who won the tournament.
Ketchikan 0, JDHS 3
The Crimson Bears needed all the sleep they could get on Thursday night.
On the eve of the J.I.V.E. tournament at Juneau-Douglas High School, the tournament hosts spent less than an hour defeating the Ketchikan Kings before heading home to recharge for Friday’s tournament.
The 25-8, 25-7, 25-9 home victory marked the third time JDHS has won over Ketchikan in a seven days. With the win, the Crimson Bears remain undefeated in conference play at 5-0.
Kayhi hosted the Crimson Bears the preceding weekend on their home floor. JDHS won both games in Ketchikan, 3-0, respectively.
“They did a good job of staying focused and playing their game,” JDHS coach Dale Bontrager said.
The senior trio of of Leah Spargo, Abby Meiners and Cassie Dzinich collected seven kills apiece.
These and other Crimson Bears — such as middle hitter Jessica Pierce — delivered on offense when called upon. Beset by passing and hitting errors, the Kings were their own worst enemy for long stretches of the match.
“Tonight we were just working on consistency,” Pierce said. “We have a tendency to go up and down (in play) and we didn’t want to play down, we wanted to keep the level high and be able to work on new things.”
JDHS also let their hard serves do a sizable part of the scoring with most of the team picking up at least one ace.
The J.I.V.E. tournament started on Friday afternoon. Bontrager says the tournament gives the team valuable court time.
Pierce looks forward to seeing how the Southeast competition — which includes teams from all over Southeast — fares each year.
“You never know what the other teams have improved on, what’s changed,” she said.
Thunder Mountain won the tournament last season, and will be one of the favorites to do so again this year.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Juneau-Douglas’ Jessica Pierce spikes against Petersburg at the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza at JDHS on Friday, Oct. 13, 2017.
Thunder Mountain’s Mary Landes spikes against Wrangell at the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza at JDHS on Friday, Oct. 13, 2017.
