Volleyball takes third at Metlakatla

The Lady Wolves met expectations to finish third at a critical seeding tournament in Metlakatla Oct. 25 and 26.

The Lady Wolves took victories from Metlakatla, Haines and Skagway, but lost in five games to Klawock and three games to Craig. The seeding tournaments are a crucial benchmark of whether the Lady Wolves will be among the teams to qualify for the state tournament in Anchorage in December.

“Right in the middle,” said varsity head coach Jessica Whitaker. “We need to be in the top two to make it to State.”

The record from this tournament will be combined with results from a second tournament in Haines Nov. 22 and 23.

The team had been in need of more consistent passing after the Oct. 18 and 19 Ketchikan tournament and Whitaker said the team had improved their passing game somewhat.

“We were able to set the ball up more frequently this weekend, but we weren’t able to increase our kill ratio,” she said.

The kill ratio refers to the number of attempted points against the number of points. A player who attempts to score 10 points but scores only 2 has a kill ratio of 20 percent.

At the same time, a fundamental the Wolves had cemented for two previous tournaments – the home jamboree Oct. 11 and 12, and the Ketchikan Allcomers Oct. 18 and 19 – faltered in Metlakatla, according to Whitaker.

“Our serving came to light as an area of difficulty,” she said.

Whitaker gave kudos to junior libaro Darian Meissner.

“She was a pretty consistent server throughout the weekend and showed a lot of hustle,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker also praised sophomore outside hitter Katie Barger.

The Lady Wolves continue their season this weekend at a small schools tournament in Juneau.