Volleyball team gearing up for new season under new leadership

The Lady Wolves, Wrangell High School's volleyball team, are gearing up for another season. They will be traveling a lot this year, according to the team's schedule, with only one home game scheduled against school rival Petersburg. Wrangell will also be hosting the regional tournament in November. The team consists of 11 girls this year, as well as some new leadership.

Alyssa Allen is the Lady Wolves' new head coach and she is looking forward to the new season.

Allen was the team's assistant coach for three years, under recently-retired head coach Jessica Whitaker. She has also coached middle school volleyball for two years. She played for the Lady Wolves during her high school career, as well, graduating in 2013. "I guess it's something I've wanted to do. I've always really enjoyed playing volleyball and I enjoyed being their assistant coach and watching them all improve and grow throughout the years," Allen said. "It's definitely something I enjoy."

The full team has only come together for practice a couple times at the time of writing, but Allen said that she feels the team will come together soon. Several of her players are also running on the cross country team, which will be competing in regionals Sept. 28, and also on the swim team. Allen said that she expects the team may have some initial challenges, but will get better with time and practice.

"We've only really had a couple of practices with everybody here, but I think it's going to come together," Allen said. "I think we're going to improve a lot throughout the year just because we have so many young players and people who are going to be stepping into new positions this year."

The Lady Wolves' first game will be on Oct. 4 and 5 in Sitka.