For the first time in 32 years the Ketchikan Lady Kings have been crowned champions of 4A Region V volleyball.<\/p>\n
And it wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n
Ketchikan topped Juneau-Douglas in five sets on Saturday night at Thunder Mountain High School despite a match-high 24 kills from Crimson Bears senior Maddie McKeown.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is kind of intimidating,\u201d Kayhi outside hitter Havalah Clark said. \u201cAfter a while you see what she is capable of and try to adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark adjusted to lead Kayhi with 17 kills and four blocks in the championship match win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel pretty good,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t have done it without the help of my team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ketchikan last won the region crown in 1983.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a little shaky,\u201d Kayhi coach Naomi Michalsen said. \u201cI am very excited. The girls worked very hard and it was a long time coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
It almost didn\u2019t happen as JDHS forced a fifth set and a possible \u201cif necessary\u201d game.<\/p>\n
McKeown would tally six kills in the fifth set, including three in a row that brought the Crimson Bears to within a point at 10-9.<\/p>\n
Kayhi responded with kills by Gabby Clark, Kaia Michalsen and Kreylynn Johnson for the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a sad feeling,\u201d McKeown said. \u201cKetchikan pulled it out for the win and there is nothing you can say. They played harder. We were trying our hardest. It was a good season. Everyone worked hard to get back into that fifth game and there is not much you can do after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Crimson Bears had won the last 21 Region V volleyball championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just have to give Ketchikan credit,\u201d JDHS coach Lesslie Knight said. \u201cThey had solid hitters all the way around. We had moments of greatness but Kayhi hit very well. Last night I went home and looked at stats and our serving, passing and hitting was good. You have to give credit to the opponent, they hit where we weren\u2019t, and a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ketchikan put three blockers on McKeown throughout the match.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody likes to watch a hitter that hits into the block over and over again,\u201d McKeown said. \u201cSo I kind of figured that out. It doesn\u2019t get you anywhere. I have to figure out how to hit around the block.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season JDHS forced an \u201cif necessary\u201d championship match at the regions in Ketchikan and won by two points.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt good to come back and do the same thing here in Juneau,\u201d Ketchikan\u2019s Michalsen said. \u201cSo to beat Juneau here in Juneau and not go to an \u2018if\u2019 game was pretty special. The key was to just play our game and stay focused. I think once we play a really good game, we kind of let up the next one. Not everyone was on every time, but the team had each other\u2019s backs. You don\u2019t have to be the best player to be a champion \u2014 you have to be a good teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added teammate Kallen Hoover: \u201cWe have had a really great season. Maddie really came through for us today and we couldn\u2019t pull it off. Ketchikan ended up being the better team. We had a lot of fun and we love each other a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel pretty great,\u201d Kayhi\u2019s Kaia Michalsen said. \u201cI was pretty nervous but couldn\u2019t show it, I didn\u2019t want my team to know that. The last game I was pretty determined. Our best blockers were Gabby and Kinani, they really helped the team and made a difference against JD\u2019s best hitter.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SATURDAY ELIMINATION GAME<\/strong><\/p>\n The JDHS Crimson Bears swept TMHS in three sets Saturday to end the Falcons season.<\/p>\n TMHS took a 4-1 lead in set one behind Maya Haywood\u2019s attacks but Maddie McKeown killed a shot for service and Worden served for the 5-4 advantage. After a Haywood point McKeown again earned the ball back and served to a 9-5 lead with one ace attached.<\/p>\n JDHS followed a Tona Fogg service run, including three kills from Kallen Hoover for a 13-6 advantage. A block by Haywood, a Maxie Saceda-Hurt kill and an Abby De Rocher kill chipped into the lead but the Crimson Bears pushed on to leads of 22-12 and ended the set with kills by McKeown and Hoover and a Falcons\u2019 miss.<\/p>\n TM took a 9-4 lead in set two with a service stretch by De Rocher that included an ace and two blocks from Haywood.<\/p>\n \u201cThis weekend was one of the peaks of our season,\u201d De Rocher said. \u201cWe really came together at the beginning of this tournament. Overall I think we did really well. I am not sad about the outcome. I think it was pretty even. Anyone could have won and overall I think we did okay.\u201d<\/p>\n McKeown tied the game at 9-9 while on service with two aces and Fogg served to a 14-12 advantage with kills from Spargo, Hoover and McKeown.<\/p>\n TM closed to 14-13 on a Marissa Tanuvasa-Tuvaifale kill and closed to 17-16 on an unforced error but McKeown killed to win service.<\/p>\n Spargo served out the set with four kills from McKeown and an ace.<\/p>\n With McKeown serving, JDHS took a 14-6 lead largely in part to four unforced errors by TM.<\/p>\n DeRocher brought the Falcons back to within 16-11 but Hoover, Fogg and Spargo served out the match. The Falcons were hindered by the absence of contributing players taking college testing, which ended mid-way through the third set.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough we are sad we lost we played pretty well and did all we could,\u201d TMHS\u2019 Sara Wood said. \u201cWe can always do something differently. Just not giving them points or playing smarter. I think we did our best. I wouldn\u2019t say Ketchikan was more challenging. For us as a team JDHS was more of a challenge. They have a solid offense and are high energy with a lot of spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n Tourney play started Friday with second seed Ketchikan defeating No. 3 seed TMHS in four sets and also eating top-seeded JDHS in five sets.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS<\/strong><\/p>\n TEAM SPORTSMANSHIP: Thunder Mountain Falcons.<\/p>\n ALL ACADEMIC: TMHS – Abby De Rocher, Maya Hayward, Kelley Olson, Sara Wood, Jamie Yaletchko. JD – Martina Worden, Tona Fogg, Kallen Hoover, Maddie McKeown. Kayhi – Whitney Hamilton, Jenny Hu, Kaia Michalsen, Gabriela Clark, Mina Matsuura.<\/p>\n ALL CONFERENCE: Mattie McKeown – JD, Kallen Hoover – JD, Maya Haywood – TM, Havalah Clark – Kayhi, Jenny Hu – Kayhi, Kaia Michalsen – Kayhi.<\/p>\n GREAT SPORT AWARD: TMHS – Mary Landes, Sara Wood. JDHS – Martina Warden, Tona Fogg. Kayhi – Whitney Hamilton – Kayhi, Mina Matsuura – Kayhi.<\/p>\n Passing Skills Champ: Maddie McKeown – JD.<\/p>\n Serving Skills Champ: Tona Fogg – JD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the first time in 32 years the Ketchikan Lady Kings have been crowned champions of 4A Region V volleyball. And it wasn\u2019t easy. Ketchikan topped Juneau-Douglas in five sets on Saturday night at Thunder Mountain High School despite a match-high 24 kills from Crimson Bears senior Maddie McKeown. \u201cShe is kind of intimidating,\u201d Kayhi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":4931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-4930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4930"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}