JDHS spikers stay positive after second sweep by Wasilla

If body language, effort and enthusiasm won contests, then the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears would have toppled visiting volleyball giant Wasilla on Saturday inside the George Houston Gymnasium.

But sometimes the opponent has the same qualities and not only does their reputation precede them, but they also back it up with talent. For the second straight night, Wasilla swept JDHS, this time by the scores 25-17, 25-19 and 25-12.

In set one, the Warriors put a 5-1 tally on the scoreboard, with junior Ki Schachle serving an ace and including a kill by senior Hayden Caldera.

A tip kill by JDHS junior Lavinia Ma’ake off a block by classmate Natalia Harris gave the Crimson Bears point number two.

“I knew they were going to be a hard team when we played against them,” Harris said. “I just wanted everybody to have good up spirits and just be positive. Because I think it is important if we have a positive attitude we’ll play well because that just brings everyone up higher and up-tempo, and they just want to show their best off. This is a great team in the state, so to show that we can play hard against them shows that we came from such a long way since we’ve combined schools and stuff. I think if we just keep on practicing harder and harder, we should not underestimate ourselves. I think we have a lot when we work together, like a dream team, we work really good together. I think that is just going to keep on building and building as we get closer and the season goes on.”

A mishit returned the ball to Wasilla, and University Of Iowa’s Division I college-bound all-state senior Layla Hays served the Warriors out to a 12-2 score with four aces and including a kill by junior Mia Caldwell.

“It was really hard, especially when she (Hays) can hit it that good,” JDHS sophomore Brie Powers said. “But I think that the energy of our team really brought us up into thinking that we can do it. And we did do it. We successfully did get some good passes and everything. I just think our energy was great tonight, and I think we did way better than we expected. I am definitely going to work on my defense the strongest going forward.”

Another run by Wasilla senior server Violet Schachle put the Warriors up 17-3 until an error put the ball into JDHS sophomore server June Troxel.

Troxel served the Crimson Bears to within 17-9 with an ace and two kills by junior Neela Thomas.

“I think we gave it our all, and we did really good and the energy was there,” Thomas said. “They are a tough team, and I think if we put it together we can maybe beat them. I think we need to work on just talking it out and maybe a little bit of tip coverage. They found some little holes in our system so we need to work on covering that.”

After both sides exchanged two-point runs, Thomas served JDHS to within four at 20-16, including an ace and a block, then a double block by Harris and senior Evelyn Richards, a block by Richards and a kill by Richards.

After an exchange of points, Wasilla’s Hays killed for possession and K. Schachle served out the win with an ace and a kill, and another kill by junior Mia Caldwell for 25-17.

“I think we just need to keep pushing it in practice and believing in ourselves,” Richards said. “Because the way we played today I don’t think at the beginning of the season we would have thought that we could play like that, and now we can. So all we have to do is keep practicing and getting better.”

In set two, Wasilla had service runs by Caldera, K. Schachle, Hays and V. Schachle for a 9-3 advantage until JDHS’ Ma’ake served to close to 9-8 including an ace and a kill by Harris.

Richards killed a shot to end another Wasilla run to trail 14-10, and after multiple service exchanges senior Tatum Billings tipped a kill shot and junior Braith Dihle served to within 17-13, including another kill by Billings.

“The season has been really good,” Billings said. “It took a while for us all to kind of like connect but when we clicked it started moving more smoothly. We all kind of just read each others’ minds. Going up against Wasilla, our take was to just have fun and not worry about the score, but not get down when we were losing. I think we all did better than we expected to do because we were all uplifting and having high energy.”

JDHS would whittle down the score to 18-15, with junior Cambry Lockhart serving, but a Wasilla kill by V. Schachle stopped the momentum briefly. A dig scoring shot by Dihle gave JDHS another point, but Wasilla scored on a tip kill and V. Schachle served to 22-16.

Harris killed for the Crimson Bears’ 17th point and the Warriors’ K. Schachle tip scored for their 23rd. A Wasilla service error allowed JDHS’ Thomas to serve point 19, but two Crimson Bears miss hits gave these to the Warriors 25-19.

In the third set, Wasilla seemed to be on a lopsided advantage as K. Schachle severe to 9-1 with two aces and one kill and three blocks for Hays before JDHS junior Reegan Hansen hit the shot of the night.

Hansen found a good view from the back row as she worked to midcourt and put a kill shot down the line.

“The whole line was open,” Hansen said. “They weren’t covering so I just thought if I turned my shoulders enough then I would be able to hit the line. That encourages me to try it more often and just pay more attention to the open spots on the court.

When asked how the team can step up to the next level, Hansen said, “All of us just trusting each other and communication, I think that’s a huge thing. And just really getting together as a team. We’ve done a lot better like all connecting and talking it out, and I feel like if we just keep doing that then we are going to do better.”

JDHS would exchange services and pull to 12-6 including a kill by junior Cambry Lockhart and sophomore Amelia Effers.

Miss hits by the Crimson Bears gave the Warriors’ Caldwell a 16-6 service run and sophomore teammate Allison Brewer a 23-8 service run, including two aces and kills by senior Kaitylyn Zweifel and V. Schachle.

JDHS’ Dihle killed for Crimson Bears point nine and sophomore Leila Cooper served to point 12 with kills by Richards, but Wasilla’s Hays killed a shot for match point and then blocked the match winner for 25-12.

Dihle was also playing on her birthday.

“I had a lot of fun,” she said. “I think our mindset was really excited and positive because I think we did well holding our own and not giving up when we were down. And I think that mostly carried on into today. I think in order to build and be able to push a little harder we need to work on going around the blocks in our coverage because when you have really big blocks on the other side you have to be ready to pick them up. And that’s something we need to work on.”

For JDHS, Richards had five kills, Harris, Thomas, Billings two each and Dihle, Ma’ake, Effers, Hansen and Lockhart one each. Richards had four blocks, Harris two and Thomas one.

Thomas has six points scored on service, Troxel and Ma’ake five apiece, Cooper three and Dihle, Lockhart, Powers and Richards one each. Ma’ake, Thomas and Troxel had one ace each.

Ma’ake had 26 pass attempts and Lockhart 24. Powers had nine assists and Cooper five.

Lockhart led with 11 digs, Ma’ake 10, Dihle five, Powers, Cooper, Richards and Harris two each and Troxel, Billings, Hansen and Thomas one each.

Unofficially, Wasilla’s Hays had seven kills, V. Schachle six, Caldwell five, K. Schachle four, Caldera three and Zweifel two. Hays had a game-high five blocks. Hays and K. Schachle had four aces apiece, Brewer three, V. Schachle two and Caldwell and Caldera one apiece.

“I’m proud of the girls for not giving up that last set,” JDHS head coach Jody Levernier said. “It was like 22-8 and they just kept fighting until the very end and they kept attacking and playing aggressively, and that’s what we have been asking them to do all season. I think it gave them a good look at what’s to come in the next few weeks and I think if they play like they did yesterday and today I think they have a chance at doing pretty well.”

To hit the next level, Levernier said the Crimson Bears need “a little more defense. We have to be more solid in our passing. A little more back-row attacking and some coverage on our hits…keep working with our blockers to get up there and getting in the right position…so some fine-tuning. I think they are coming alone as a team really well as far as working together and just having fun on the court.”

JDHS will next travel to a tournament in Anchorage on Oct. 30-Nov. 2 and face East Anchorage, Dimond, Service and Petersburg.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.