Oct 14, 2023
Submitted by Katie Bryson Burns
This past weekend the Buccaneer Junior Varsity Volleyball team traveled to Anchorage to compete in our largest tournament of the season at Lumen Christi High School. Being invited to this tournament was a unique and challenging opportunity to play against nineteen 2A varsity teams from all over the state. Some of the competition traveled from as far away as places like Unalaska and Sand Point (found in the far west of the Aleutian chain) to Petersburg on the southeast panhandle of Alaska, not to mention interior Alaskan towns like Glennallen and Tok, and other coastal communities like Cordova and Dillingham.
After the long drive into Anchorage on Thursday, the Bucs suited up and stepped onto the court for their first set of the tournament against Cook Inlet Academy. Our starting lineup for the entire tournament was Jamie Rupert (setter), Paige Pedersen (OH), Mariah Dunning (MH), Savanah Pruitt (OPP), Savannah Barton (OH), Hazell Vanderpool (MH), and Elaine Gilson (libero). The Bucs and the Eagles traded points back and forth making it an exciting game. Gilson and Vanderpool both had long serving stretches while Pedersen racked up three kills for the set. The Bucs pulled off a narrow victory of 26-24.
In the second set of the night, the Bucs faced the Seldovia Sea Otters. The Bucs earned an early lead by putting up an aggressive offense, led by our setter Rupert, to Dunning, Barton and Vanderpool. Ava Mitchell, Cersei Strickland, and Jezelle Eskilida all stepped on the court and contributed to the team’s overall success for this set. The Bucs closed the deal with a 25-14 victory. In our third set of the evening against Nenana we faced another back and forth battle that, again, went into overtime. The Bucs let Nenana stay in the game by giving away six serving
errors and a number of free balls. Despite these lapses, this was the team’s most aggressive set of the evening with almost 30 attacks against the Lynx team. We pulled off our third victory of the night 27-25.
On Friday the following day we played four sets total against the Ninilchik Wolverines, Cordova Wolverines, Lumen Christi Archangels, and Susitna Valley Rams. Shout out to Rupert for being our strongest server in the Ninilchik set (26-24), Gilson for leading in perfect passes against Cordova while Pedersen led in attacks (28-26), and Vanderpool and Dunning putting up a wall of defensive blocks in the Su-Valley game. The Su-Valley victory caught us all by surprise when the game was brought to an unexpected end when the clock ran out. Fortunately the Bucs had the lead and won the set 22-19. The Bucs ended the pool play part of the tournament on Friday evening undefeated and were seated #2 going into the Gold Division Bracket for the following day. What an accomplishment for a JV team at a Varsity tournament!
On Saturday the Bucs faced the Nenana Lynx once again, this time in a full match best 2 out of 3 games to 21. The Bucs came out aggressive in the first set with almost 20 attacks against the Lynx. These plays were largely able to happen as a result of controlled passing from Gilson, Vanderpool, and Pedersen. We won the first set 21-15. In the following set the Bucs continued to put on the heat with aggressive attacks at the net led by Mariah Dunning. Also, Ava Mitchell stepped onto the court to play as a defensive specialist and had a series of six digs in one rally that were incredible. The Lynx, however, were not going down without a fight and they ended up taking the set with a 17-21 victory. The final set of the match was a quick game to 11. The Lynx took an early lead and did not give it up. The Bucs tried to play it safe and the Lynx closed the deal with a 5-11 win. The Bucs were out at the beginning in this single elimination portion of the tournament.
Despite the anti-climactic conclusion to the Lumen Christi Spiktacular tournament, the Junior Varsity Buccaneer team did a tremendous job over the course of the entire tournament. Their performance is what every coach hopes for at the end of a season–to see their players able to put the whole package together: blocking, digging, covering, attacking, talking, and trusting each other on the court. Well done Lady Bucs!
