Petersburg, Mt. Edgecumbe falter in Class 3A tournament
ANCHORAGE - Thursday's opening round of the Class 3A state volleyball tournament was a bad case of hurry up and wait for the Petersburg Vikings.
Slated to play the second match of the day against Heritage Christian Schools, Petersburg arrived early during the tournament-opening Seward-Valdez match at West Anchorage High School. When Seward won the first two games, Petersburg warmed up and was ready to play, only to have to sit and wait as Valdez rallied to win the match in five games.
Once Petersburg finally got to take the court for its opening match against Heritage, the Vikings had lost their edge. The Eagles blitzed Petersburg in the opening game, scoring the first 14 points as the Vikings struggled with mental mistakes and hitting errors. Heritage then kept up the pressure to claim a 15-3, 15-12, 15-12 sweep.
"We cooled off for about an hour," Petersburg middle blocker Britni Birchell said.
"We were ready to play, then we had to sit down," Petersburg defensive specialist Tessa Bergmann added. "It might have been nerves."
The Heritage victory means the Eagles advance to today's 6:30 p.m. semifinal match against the defending Class 3A state champion Valdez, which beat Seward 8-15, 15-17, 15-0, 16-14, 15-11. Petersburg's loss sent the Vikings to play Seward in an 8 a.m. elimination match today. Details from today's matches will be printed in Sunday's Empire.
In Thursday's other Class 3A opening-round matches, the Cordova Wolverines swept the Mount Edgecumbe Braves, 15-3, 15-2, 15-13, and the Grace Christian Grizzlies swept the Glennallen Panthers, 15-9, 15-2, 17-15.
Cordova plays Grace Christian in today's 8:15 p.m. semifinal, while Mount Edgecumbe met Glennallen in a 9:45 a.m. elimination match today. Saturday's Class 3A title match is at 5 p.m., with the third-fifth place match at 12:30 p.m. and the fourth-sixth place match at 9 a.m.
When Petersburg finally got to play against Heritage, the Vikings struggled.
During the early part of the first game, Petersburg's passes were pulling the setter out of position, players were colliding while chasing loose balls and spikes were sent into the net with regularity. When the Vikings finally got a sideout, they'd turn the ball back over to the Eagles by making a passing error or serving the ball into the net. It was 14-0 before Petersburg scored its first point of the match.
"There was no talking on the floor," Petersburg outside hitter Brandy Cole said. "Over the last two years or so, we've done that - lost the first two games, then had to come back."
"The bottom line is I don't think we were ready to play," Birchell said.
The next two games were closer, with Heritage (9-8 overall in best three-out-of-five-game matches) having to break an 11-11 tie in the second game and an 8-8 tie in the third game to claim victory.
Colleen Cox led Heritage with 11 kills and three blocks, while Jenn Baum added eight kills and Erin Weiman had 23 kills. Lindsey Hanks added six kills for the Eagles, plus she served 20 points with nine straight in the first game and six straight in the third game that brought Heritage back from an 8-2 deficit to an 8-8 tie.
Birchell led Petersburg (12-4 overall) with six kills and six blocks, while Williams added five kills and Cole had three. Mandie Versteeg served two aces for the Vikings.
Wolverines 3, Braves 0
The Mount Edgecumbe Braves showed their nerves early as Cordova cruised to a 15-3, 15-2, 15-13 sweep in opening-round action Thursday.
"We weren't as focused as we thought we'd be," Mount Edgecumbe's Ella Morris said. "We were missing a lot of enthusiasm."
Mount Edgecumbe, which took second to Petersburg in the Region V-Class 3A tournament, had to leave four of its bench players home because of budget concerns. That left Mount Edgecumbe with just two reserves on its bench during the match.
The two teams saw each other briefly earlier this season, when both took part in the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza (JIVE Tournament), and that exposure seemed to help Cordova more than Mount Edgecumbe.
"It helped," Cordova's Kaila Hawley said after notching six kills. "It was nice to know how many blockers they had. We'd never won on the first day of state before."
"We saw all of these teams, either here or at some other tournament this year," added Lynsey Adams, who led Cordova with 13 kills. "We got the inside look."
While Mount Edgecumbe wasn't able to use its sneak peak at Cordova from earlier this season, the Braves said the JIVE Tournament was when the team started to turn things around. Earlier this season the Braves were struggling with new coaches, new players and a new offense.
"We started to play at JIVE," Mount Edgecumbe's Dora Hughes said. "We got to play a lot."
"We'll definitely be better tomorrow," Mount Edgecumbe's Jolene Chikigak added.
No stats were available for Mount Edgecumbe, which dropped to 10-6 with the loss. Cordova, which picked up 23 assists from Katrina VanDyck, improved to 15-2.
Charles Bingham can be reached at cbingham@juneauempire.com.