The Haines junior varsity girls’ volleyball team played teams from Mount Edgecombe, Petersburg, Klawock, and Sitka at the All Comers Tournament in Sitka.
The team didn’t win any games, but assistant coach Alixanne Goodman said “What matters is how they played together.” She spoke about how each girl could play any position well. With only seven players, the team did the “best they could with what they had,” Goodman said.
“There were times when we worked well as a team, and there were times when we didn’t work well together, but just like every tournament we always pull together toward the end…and we played our hardest and we got some really good bump-set-spikes,” said freshman Kolbie Cloke. When bump-set-spikes are utilized, she said, the players have their strongest plays.
Cloke and teammate Miranda Haddock said the team might go into a tournament happy and determined, but sometimes get more self-conscious and anxious as they play. In the end, one of the best outcomes of the trip was that they became better acquainted with one another. They said at the beginning the team was spread apart, but towards the end, on the boat, they were all sitting next to each other and talking and having so much fun playing games.
The volleyball team will be in Metlakatla Nov. 3 for their second seeding tournament.