{"id":55293,"date":"2019-11-08T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-09T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/underdog-jdhs-shines-at-region-v-tournament\/"},"modified":"2019-11-11T16:37:47","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T01:37:47","slug":"underdog-jdhs-shines-at-region-v-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/underdog-jdhs-shines-at-region-v-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We just wanted to prove everybody wrong’: JDHS upsets Thunder Mountain for Region V title"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a one-year hiatus, the Juneau-Douglas: Yadaat.at Kalé volleyball team will return to the state tournament — a trip they’ve made over 20 times — after upsetting reigning region champion<\/a> Thunder Mountain High School.<\/p>\n

The Crimson Bears defeated the Falcons 30-24 in the Region V 4A championship tiebreaker match on Saturday night at TMHS.<\/p>\n

JDHS defeated their crosstown rivals in that single-set match immediately following a 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 17-25, 25-19) loss to the Falcons. However, thanks to their semifinals win on Friday over TMHS<\/a>, which snapped a six-game losing streak, the Crimson Bears were given a second shot at the championship in the form of the 30-point tiebreaker.<\/p>\n

Senior Addie Prussing had two aces and junior Jojo Griggs had six kills, including the championship-clinching point. Prussing had seven aces, and Griggs had 13 kills in the prior match.<\/p>\n

“All season we’ve been saying that we’re going to peak right at the perfect time and did,” Prussing said. “We pushed and we played hard.”<\/p>\n

[See photos of the action here<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n

Tasi Fenumiai, Avery Kreischer and Lily Smith had three kills apiece for the Falcons. In the first match, Fenumiai had 12 kills, junior Sophia Harvey had nine kills and senior Bridget Gehring had 22 digs.<\/p>\n

“We did our job today — we didn’t win — but we did our job,” TMHS coach Julie Herman said. “We wanted that first match and we wanted them to have to beat us well, in 30, and we took them high into the 20s on that last set, and so I feel really good about that game. I really do.”<\/p>\n

After TMHS tied the match at 10-10, Prussing, Griggs, Brooke Sanford, Merry Newman and Jenae Pusich went to work, each recording kills in 9-3 run.<\/p>\n