<\/a>Braith Dihle (2) goes up for an attack for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kale against Mountain City Christian Academy in an elimination game of the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza on Saturday at JDHS. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
The Crimson Bears lost their first game in double-elimination play Saturday morning to fourth-seeded West Anchorage High School, but then rebounded for the early afternoon win against third-seeded Mountain City Christian Academy.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The victory resulted in a rematch against West – and this time JDHS showed it might be able to prevail as it took a 24-21 lead, putting the team within a point of taking the first set of the best-of-three matchup. But the Eagles came back to win the set and then the match, resulting in a fourth-place tournament finish for the Crimson Bears.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Still, for the players and their coach the weekend is an indicator of the potential of the team’s combined pool of talent as it enters the bulk of its conference schedule and begins thinking about how far it can advance when the playoffs begin.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I think going into (the season) I was a little nervous because it’s a new coaching staff and new people, but I’m having a lot of fun,” said Braith Dihle, a junior who was on the varsity for the now-defunct Thunder Mountain High School last year. “And I really love all the girls and I think we have good team chemistry. Our personalities really match well together.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/a>Neela Thomas (12) and Lavinia Ma’ake (left) try to deflect the ball against Mountain City Christian Academy in an elimination game of the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Richards and Dihle both said they were a bit nervous about who would make the varsity squad when the season started due to the extra competition for spots. That prospect was also rather daunting for JDHS Head Coach Jody Levernier.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“What I was thinking was it was a lot of kids,” she said. “How are we going to get all these kids playing time? And how are we going to get all these kids travel time?”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Part of the answer is JDHS also had two junior varsity teams among five teams in that portion of the tournament that were led by some of the 10 coaches involved with the Crimson Bears’ volleyball program. In what might be considered a mix of success and irony, the two JV teams played each other in the semifinal, with the “JD1” team advancing to the final where it lost to Sitka High School’s junior varsity.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Sitka also won the Gold Bracket championship over crosstown rival Mount Edgecumbe High School in what turned into a dogfight for both teams. MEHS defeated Sitka in the quarterfinal, sending the Wolves to the loser’s bracket, where they defeated West before going on to defeat MEHS twice in a row to claim the title.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The JDHS varsity next plays on the road against conference rival Ketchikan High School this coming Friday and Saturday, with JV and C-team games also scheduled. The following week the Crimson Bears varsity returns home to host Wasilla High School on Oct. 18 and 19.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/a>Teams from four schools, including Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kale, play on two courts Saturday during the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza at JDHS. A total of 13 varsity teams participated in the tournament. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Among the tricky things to figure out is Juneau has five C teams to accommodate all the players who signed up, yet only one is scheduled to be part of next weekend’s matchups against Ketchikan. Levernier said teams not playing where the varsity is on a given day or weekend often will participate in competition elsewhere.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I think for our conference game when we go to Ketchikan the coaches will probably pick the upper teams for both for the JV and C team,” Levernier said. Meanwhile “we’re going to send a group of kids to Haines and that’s more of getting kids to travel that haven’t been able to.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
A similar approach<\/a> was taken by the JDHS cross-country team that had more than 80 students sign up. That program just competed at the state championships<\/a> in Anchorage this weekend, with Juneau runners finishing second in both the boys’ and girls’ races.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t The two high school volleyball programs in Juneau had different levels of success last year<\/a>, with JDHS finishing 7-34-1 overall and THMS 33-13-7 overall, including winning their third Region V Conference title before being eliminated with consecutive losses at the state tournament.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t