The Haines High School volleyball team faced seven different Southeast foes at the annual Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza (JIVE) tournament last weekend.
“It was a lot of volleyball, real quick,” said coach Cassie Miller.
The Glacier Bears played Craig, Juneau-Douglas, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Thunder Mountain and Wrangell over the course of the Friday-Saturday event. Haines lost all of those match-ups, despite jumping out to early leads against Craig, Sitka and Wrangell, Miller said.
“We had some communication breakdowns throughout the tournament,” she said.
JIVE opened with round-robin play before placing teams in brackets. Haines battled Juneau-Douglas and Sitka again in the bracket, picking up two losses and being eliminated from the competition.
Ketchikan topped Juneau-Douglas in the championship game to claim the JIVE title.
Miller said the Glacier Bears’ first official competition of the season was “a learning experience,” especially given the added challenge of a field that included Class 4A opponents.
Junior Jordan Stigen earned All-Tournament team recognition, scoring several points in a row with her “really hard, fast serves,” Miller said. “Jordan’s serves were exceptional this past weekend.”
Stigen also was honored for her academics, as were Glacier Bear senior Bailey Stuart, sophomore Brittney Bradford and freshman Tailer Olsson.
Haines next travels to Petersburg for a seeding tournament this weekend that will help rank small-school teams in the region.