Crimson Bears stay undefeated
Juneau volleyball team sweeps East Anchorage to open road trip
The Juneau-Douglas High School volleyball team remained undefeated on the season after sweeping the East Anchorage Thunderbirds, 15-1, 15-11, 15-6, during a non-conference match Thursday night at East Anchorage High School.
The victory improved the Crimson Bears' record to 12-0 in best-three-of-five-game matches and 63-4 in all games, including round-robin pool-play at tournaments. East's record was not available.
"We didn't play fatigued," Juneau coach Sandi Wagner said. "We played well. We let down a little bit in the second game, but we were consistent and that's what we're working for."
Amy Neussl led Juneau with 12 kills, while Kelly Baxter had seven and Julie Heard added six kills. Nikki Bennett was a perfect 18-for-18 serving, with no aces, while Callan Janowiec served seven aces.
The Crimson Bears dominated the match, which took less than an hour to complete. Wagner said Juneau made just 12 passes during the first game as East struggled to keep up with the Crimson Bears.
"There wasn't a lot coming back over the net," Wagner said.
Juneau opens play this afternoon in the two-day Service-Dimond Tournament, the state's largest regular-season tournament. There are 23 varsity teams entered in this year's tourney, with action at three schools. More than 60 teams and seven school gyms will be involved once the junior varsity and C team brackets are added to the varsity tournament.
The Crimson Bears play in a pool with Bartlett, Homer and Kenai Central today. They'll also have an extra two-game mini-match against Lathrop, since the Malemutes' pool only has three teams. The tournament continues Saturday with another round of pool-play action, followed by placement matches for the top eight teams in the late afternoon and evening. The championship match is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday at Service High School.