Courtesy of VHS JV Volleyball Coach
October 25-26, 2024
Weekend Team Accomplishments:
Buc’s Top Servers: Eeva Tiura and River Smelcer Buc’s Top Attackers: Savanah Pruitt
Buc’s Top Blocker: Laken Unger
Buc’s Top Passer: Eeva Tiura
This past weekend the JV and Varsity Buccaneer Volleyball teams traveled to Anchorage to compete in the Dimond/Service Volleyball Tournament. In this competition the biggest and best teams from across the state have the opportunity to further hone their offensive and defensive skills as the season is coming to an end before regional and state competitions. The competition is so large that the coordinators have to spread the teams between four different school campuses with split courts in play. Of the 16 teams in the JV tournament, Valdez was one of three 3A teams matching up against the remaining 13 4A teams.
Our first opponent of the night on Friday was against South Anchorage High School whose Varsity is placed second in the state overall for 4A division. Starting for the Bucs were Parker King, Eeva Tiura, Savanah Pruitt, Laken Unger, River Smelcer, and Laela Scott, with Whitney Major, Savannah Barton, and Ava Mitchell coming in off the bench for critical roles. The Bucs came out strong in their first set, with tremendous serving streaks from Tiura and Smelcer, and terrific communication and control overall from the entire team. The Bucs were not as aggressive on the net with attacks as they have been in some of their season matches, but it was their best set of the season in terms of ball control and minimal unforced errors. The Bucs’ consistency paid off and they beat the South Anchorage Wolverines in the first set 20-15. In the second set against South the Bucs struggled to gain momentum as the Wolverines took an early lead. Smelcer’s powerful 6-straight serving streak mid-set helped the Bucs to chip away at the gap in scores along with an exciting block from Tiura and kill from middle hitter Pruitt, but South ultimately pulled away and claimed the victory at 12-20.
In our next set against the West Valley Wolfpack both teams came out fired and ready to battle. The first set pushed into overtime with the Wolfpack coming out on top in a score of 20-22. Pruitt and Tiura both came alive offensively on the net, made possible by perfect passes from Tiura, Scott, Smelcer, and Barton, and Parker King who runs the Buccaneer offenses as our sole setter on the court. The second set against West Valley was just as tight. The Bucs let the Wolfpack take an early lead and unfortunately our first three service rotations could not pick up any momentum. In the fourth rotation Smelcer’s serving changed the course of the set with 6 straight bullet serves that turned into aces and the Bucs were back in the game. Pruitt dished up three kills from the middle while King, Laken Unger, Whitney Major, and (again) Pruitt each knocked down blocks at the net. The Bucs pulled ahead and won 20 – 17. Another split win for the evening.
The final games of the night were against East Anchorage High School, ranked 3rd in the state for 4A teams. King and Tiura were our high servers for both of these sets. The front line shared the glory with attacks and kills from Tiura, Unger, Smelcer, Major, and Pruitt. East won both sets 16 – 20 and 18 – 20. We ended the evening with 2 wins, 4 loses.
Based on the Friday pool play results the Bucs were placed in the Silver bracket for the Saturday games. Our first match was against Soldotna High School. Soldotna was a well developed team. They had strong serving and serve receive. They delivered some aggressive attacks at the net and had a solid block that we struggled to work around. They capitalized on our overpasses with quick return kills. The Bucs lost the match in two sets 12 -25 and 15 – 25.
The next match of the morning was against the Eagle River Eagles. The Bucs came out strong and won the first set 25 – 20. Cersei Strickland was able to come in off the bench and put up a block against the Eagles. Valdez continued with this momentum for the first half of the second set when unfortunately King (our solo setter on the court) came down at an angle on her ankle that resulted in a sprain. Olivia Marchant subbed in for King in an unfamiliar rotation. The girls showed excellent teamwork and communication as they adapted to new roles, and Marchant even stepped up to serve under pressure. Jezelle Eskilida came onto the floor to play outside in the middle of the second set, and the girls won this set and match with a repeat score of 25 – 20.
Our final match of the day was against the North Pole Patriots. This season we have had an ongoing battle against the Patriots, facing them multiple times at both the Monroe Invite and the Valdez Invite, with the Patriots coming out on top in each match. King was not playing at 100%, so we adjusted our lineup to a 6-2 which allowed us to have two setters on the court, King and Smelcer, and would give King a break from the front row. The Bucs did not back down an inch in this match. Every player of our team was able to see the floor in this game against the Patriots (except for our required player line judge). Harper Ownbey subbed in to be a part of a series of plays from the front row at the net. Despite her earlier injury, Parker King had a series of dives and saves back to back that resulted in a Buccaneer point. The Bucs earned a well deserved match win with two set victories at 25-17, 25-17.
Excellent work from this team of players! Go Bucs!
