Bad plane forces Juneau volleyball team to scrub Cordova match
The Juneau-Douglas High School volleyball team had its own version of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" as it tried to get to Cordova for a volleyball match Wednesday.
At least the Crimson Bears had the "Planes" part of the experience, as the team only got as far as Yakutat before a mechanical problem with the team's plane forced the cancellation of the rest of its trip to Cordova.
"We landed in Yakutat, and the pilot said 'This plane's not going any further,'" Juneau co-coach Dale Bontrager said. "There was a problem with the flaps and at 200 knots the plane would start vibrating. I guess the problem had been there before we left Juneau because they were pulling on the flaps before we took off."
Bontrager said the team spent three hours on the runway in Yakutat waiting for a new plane to arrive. He said the players stayed on the plane most of the time studying, then started playing games like hide-and-seek on the airplane.
"It was very entertaining," Bontrager said. "There was never a dull moment."
Wednesday's match with Cordova was canceled, and Crimson Bears returned home to Juneau Wednesday night. The Juneau volleyball team is scheduled to fly to Anchorage this afternoon so it can play Colony High School in Palmer at 7 p.m. tonight. The Crimson Bears are also scheduled to play in the 19-team Service-Dimond Tournament on Friday and Saturday.
"It was kind of a shame we weren't able to play, because the kids could have used a match before the tournament," Bontrager said.
On another note, Bontrager said Juneau sent a junior varsity team and two C team squads to the Ketchikan Small Schools Tournament last weekend. He said the JV squad took second place to Mount Edgecumbe's varsity team and one of the C teams won the silver bracket in the tournament.