Take away the third set, and the Thunder Mountain High School volleyball team rarely trailed the Sitka Wolves Friday night at TMHS.
The Falcons’ superior serving and defense enabled them to dictate most of a four-set win in their first home game of the season: 25-23, 25-9, 21-25, 25-15.
“I really just wanted to win,” Falcons setter Mary Landes said. “First game on the home court, you want to make a good first impression.”
Rachel Macaulay and Hannah Harvey combined for eight aces in a match that also saw both teams commit numerous serving errors. Senior outside hitter Maxie Saceda-Hurt led the Falcons with over 10 kills.
“I just really wanted to make sure our serving was strong,” TMHS head coach Arnold Ibias said. “For us, when our servers are doing well, it’s tough to return their serves.”
The Falcons weathered a big Wolves’ comeback in the first set but managed to mute their oppenent’s offense altogether in the second set. TMHS went on 7-0 and 8-0 runs on their way to winning their second set.
After falling behind early in the third set, the Falcons fought back to repeatedly tie the game. Sitka’s Miah Dumag was aggressive at the net and got in a rhythm with several kills. Once the score hit 17-17, Sitka went on a 5-0 run as TMHS made several hitting errors. Kami Dodson blocked the final point of the game to give her team its first set of the match.
“They’re a team that just doesn’t give up. They were fighting all the way to the end,” Ibias said of Sitka.
Junior Audrey Welling made several nice attacks in the fourth set to give the Falcons an early lead. Even as the Wolves trailed 13-7 later on in the set, a comeback was hardly out of the question for the Wolves. However, the Falcons would maintain a five-point buffer the rest of the set to win the match.
“I was really nervous going into it,” Welling said, “and now I’m really excited because we’re still seeing what our team can do and I think it’s just the beginning.”
The Falcons and Wolves played each other again on Saturday night. Check the Empire’s online coverage for a game recap.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Thunder Mountain’s Maximina Saceda-Hurt blocks a spike by Sitka’s Joei Vidad at Thunder Mountain High School on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Thunder Mountain’s Lilyan Smith tips the ball over against Sitka’s Hadley Andersen at Thunder Mountain High School on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
