The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears could not shadow the bright lights of the Soldotna Stars on Friday morning in an elimination game at the ASAA 2024 Volleyball 4A State Championships at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center, falling 3-0 for the second straight day in the tournament.
Soldotna opened the match with a dominance at the net and pushed out to an 8-1 advantage with junior Sarah Brown serving two aces and getting a kill from sophomore Cassidy Kruse.
JDHS junior Natalia Harris killed for possession and sophomore June Troxel served two aces to pull the Crimson Bears to within 8-4.
Kruse again killed for Sohi and senior Sadie Lane served three aces for a 12-4 lead.
JDHS would climb back into the set with three different service exchanges that included junior Cambry Lockhart, Harris and junior Lavinia Ma’ake to pull within 14-10.
A kill by Sohi senior Hallie Fischer and five straight Fischer serves that included three aces and a kill apiece from seniors Kiona Dexter and Sadie Lane put Sohi up 20-11.
JDHS gained possession via service error and junior Braith Dihle killed for a point before the Crimson Bears had their own service error to return possession.
Sohi’s Brown served to 24-13 including an ace and a scoring block by Kruse.
A miss hit gave JDHS possession, but Kruse killed for the set 25-14.
Sohi had an early lead in set two with a kill and a block by Kruse, but a service error gave JDHS possession and sophomore Leila Cooper served to 4-2 with an ace and two Stars miss hits.
After two point exchanges the Stars took an 8-6 advantage with senior Veronica Crane serving and getting a block and kill from junior Morgan Simac, a kill by senior Kathleen Curtis and a block by Fischer.
A miss hit gave JDHS possession and junior Cambry Lockhart served to a 9-8 lead.
Sohi’s Fischer killed for possession and Dexter served to an 11-9 Stars lead with an ace and a kill by Simac.
Single point exchanges drew JDHS to within 13-12 and junior Neela Thomas served an ace and another hard shot for a 14-13 lead before a service error tied the set at 13-13.
Sohi’s Brown served to an 18-14 lead with an ace and kills by Kruse and Curtis.
Single point kill exchanges by JDHS’ Ma’ake and Sohi’s Lane brought the ball back to the Stars, and senior Veronica Crane served to a 22-16 advantage with kills by Kruse and Fischer.
A Stars miss hit gave the Crimson Bears a point, but Sohi’s Simac killed for 23-17.
A Stars service error gave the Crimson Bears another point but JDHS did the same and trailed 24-18.
JDHS sophomore Amelia Effers and Ma’ake put a double block to work for point 19 and Effers killed for point 20, but Sohi’s Lane crushed the set winner for the 25-20 final.
Set three was dominated at the net as both teams tried to power through.
Sohi took an early 7-3 and 12-5 leads with three scoring kills by Fischer, two blocks by Simac and a couple aces by Curtis while the JDHS scoring came via opponents’ miss hits and service errors.
After committing a miss hit to give JDHS point six, Sohi’s Fischer killed and Simac served to a 15-6 lead with kills by Fischer and Lane.
Another miss hit gave JDHS a point and the Crimson Bears gave one back on a service error as did the Stars.
Sohi’s Kruse served to a 20-8 advantage with an ace and two kills, and a block by Kruse.
A net violation gave JDHS service and Troxel served to 20-11 on two Sohi miss hits.
A kill by the Stars’ Curtis put service into Lane’s hands and she pushed the lead to 24-11 with an ace and kills by Lane and Kruse.
A Stars miss hit gave service to JDHS and Lockhart earned an ace to pull to within 24-13, but Kruse killed a shot for the set, and match, 25-13.
Lockhart was awarded the ASAA Player of the Game for JDHS and Brown earned the honor for Sohi.
Cooper had six points scored on serve for JDHS (including one ace), Troxel five (2 aces), Lockhart four, Ma’ake two, Thomas two (1 ace), Brie Powers one and Harris one.
Ma’ake had 23 pass attempts, Lockhart 15, Troxel 13, Braith Dihle 12, Powers, and Harris one apiece. Cooper had eight assists and Powers six.
Ma’ake had six kills, Dihle four, Effers and Harris three apiece, Lockhart and Richards two apiece. Richards had three blocks and Ma’ake two.
Lockhart had 19 digs, Ma’ake 11, Troxel seven, Cooper and Richards three apiece, Powers two, Dihle, Thomas and Effers one each.
Both teams suffered an opening tournament loss on Thursday with JDHS falling to Service 3-0 (25-18, 25-7, 25-18) and Soldotna falling to Dimond 3-1 (28-26, 27-25, 21-25, 25-14).
Service then advanced over Dimond 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-17).
On Friday Chugiak, a 3-1 (17-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-20) loser to Wasilla Thursday, eliminated Lathrop 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-14) and faced Dimond in an elimination game later in the day, falling out of the tournament 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-9).
Lathrop had lost Thursday to South Anchorage 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-17). South then defeated Wasilla 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 25-12, 21-25, 15-8) and faced Service in a semifinal Friday, winning 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-15).
Wasilla would eliminate Soldotna Friday afternoon 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-18) and then eliminate Dimond Friday evening 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 17-25, 25-22) and will face Service in an elimination game Saturday morning with the winner advancing to play South Anchorage in the championship at 3 p.m.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
