Haines’ volleyball team returned from a weekend of exhibition matches at the Juneau JIVE tournament.
In the morning, the Glacier Bears played one game each against five teams — Klawock, Metlakatla, Petersburg, Sitka, and Wrangell.
Haines’ morning game against Wrangell was, according to coach Keri Ewing, the team’s worst effort of the weekend.
The Glacier Bears’ second game was against Petersburg where “we played really well even though we couldn’t finish points. But our defense and coverage was really strong.”
The 2A Glacier Bears also faced 3A Sitka, and perennial 2A Region 5 champion Klawock, where they played well, but lost.
In its fifth game, the team faced Metlakatla and posted a 25-14 win before taking a break for lunch.
In the afternoon, the Glacier Bears played two, full three-game matches against Klawock and Metlakatla.
The team “came out a bit flat in the match against Klawock before recovering a bit and making the second game closer,” Ewing said.
Haines defeated Metlakatla in what Ewing said was the team’s best effort of the weekend.
Junior Brittney Bradford is front line defensive specialist in her second year on the team. She said, “We have improved a lot. We’re a new, younger team. So it’s kind of all of us improving together, instead of just individuals, so that’s nice.”
Ewing added, “When she gets a good block (at the net), it really motivates and gets our team going.”
Overall, the team played 10 full games in the one-day session.
The team travels to Klawock this weekend for the Klawock Seeding Tournament on Oct. 20-22.