Volleyball team scores small schools tourney 1st place

The Lady Wolves turned in a first-place performance at the small schools tournament in Juneau Nov. 2 and 3.

After a day and a half of pool play against other teams at the tournament on Friday and Saturday morning, the Wrangell High volleyball team’s record stood at 3-2, good enough to qualify them as the first seed for the middle of three tournament brackets on Saturday afternoon, working exceptionally well together to beat the varsity Ketchikan team, said coach Lisa Nikodym.

“The girls just did amazingly well,” she said. “It was probably one of the best games I’ve seen so far out of the season. Nothing came over without the whole team going after it.”

The victory came despite being without senior middle/right hitter McKenna Harding. The team’s two other senior players – Calleigh Miller and Erica Smith – stepped up to help fill in for her absence, as did other players.

“This weekend, my seniors were huge,” she said. “Without (head coach) Jess (Whitaker) there, one of the seniors missing, they had to step forward even more, so we had a big talk about that, and my seniors came through.”

Nikodym also credited juniors Kacie Galla and Darian Meissner, along with Miller in helping to improve serving consistency, which had been an issue the previous week at the seeding tournament in Metlakatla.

“We showed a huge improvement,” she said. “It was a total 180. Before we left, they worked a lot on serving.”

If the team spirit, competitiveness, and quality of play equal the effort on display for the first place match up against Ketchikan, the season looks promising, Nikodym said.

“I think it’s just full steam ahead, you know, keeping up with the hitting, keeping up with the talking, just kind of fine-tuning stuff as we head into the next regional meet,” she said.

The Lady Wolves continue their season Nov. 8 and 9 at an invitational in Craig.