The Haines Glacier Bears volleyball team’s regular season is over after a regional tournament on Prince of Wales.
Coach Hailey Sanders wrote in an email that the group arrived in Craig at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday after more than 32 hours of traveling that included “ferry rides, sleeping in churches, delayed flights due to wind, more ferries, and finally an hour bus ride.”
They slept in a classroom and then packed up and got out by 7 a.m. in time for school. Then, they played a game Thursday afternoon against Klawock, and another against Skagway on Friday, both of which they lost.
Then the team did a long trek back from Craig over the weekend, which included a 24-hour ferry ride. They got back into town mid-morning on Monday and the players headed straight back to school.
Sanders said there have been highlights this season, particularly when the team performed well during the recent northern Southeast seeding tournament in Petersburg.
They beat Klawock in three sets, Skagway in two sets and Hoonah in three sets before playing, and ultimately losing, a tight game against Petersburg.
Sanders noted that the Vikings had a large, supportive crowd, and the Glacier Bears managed to match the energy with fewer than a dozen people.
“It was one of the most fun games I’ve ever coached,” she said.
Sanders said it has been a grueling travel season with three similarly long trips. She called the team tough and resilient.
“I am so incredibly proud of my whole team and the time, effort, and passion they put into the season,” she said.
Coach Hailey Sanders said the team’s six seniors, Ari’el Godinez Long, Ashlyn Ganey, Emma Dohrn, Klover Cinocco, Kate Benda, and Selby Long, were inclusive and kind leaders on and off the court.
“I heard from many younger classmates how lucky they felt to have seniors [who] were inclusive, kind and helpful,” Sanders wrote in an email
“I feel very lucky, too.”