Courtesy of VHS J.V. Volleyball Coach
Lumen Christi 2A Varsity Tournament
October 10-12, 2024
Weekend Team Accomplishments:
Buc’s Top Server: Parker King
Buc’s Top Attackers: Eeva Tiura and Laken Unger Buc’s Top Blocker: Savanah Pruitt
Buc’s Top Passer: Eeva Tiura and Laela Scott
The Lumen Christi Tournament provided a sweet opportunity for our junior varsity volleyball team to compete against a strong mix of 2A varsity teams from across the state of Alaska. This was an exciting weekend full of accomplishments as the Bucs worked through the Thursday and Friday pool play with a culminating 7-0 record, placing the team in the Gold bracket for the final day of the tournament.
Throughout this weekend our serving, which was detrimental to our performance against the Hawks last weekend, was a real strength and game changer for the momentum of each set. In our first and third sets of pool play on Thursday against Ninilchik, Parker King served up 7 aces against the Wolverines while Eeva Tiura went on a serving streak against the Cook Inlet Academy. These examples of exemplary serving (along with other streaks from Laken Unger and River Smelcer), put our opponents in a position where they had to work hard to return the ball to our side of the court, oftentimes unable to set up an attack. The Bucs were able to use that edge to run their offense and set up our front row players aggressively on the net. We finished Thursday with a 3-0 record.
The first set of the day on Friday was against the Nenana Lynx. The Bucs fired up the net by mixing up where the attack would come from next. Multiple kills from outside (Tiura and Smelcer), middle (Pruitt and Major), and right side (Unger). Olivia Marchant earned her first kill of the season with an uncontested cross shot to right back from the middle! The crowd and the team went wild! In our second set against Glennallen, Cersei Strickland put up a wall against the Panthers’ middle hitter with a block-kill. Our third set of the day was against the hometown Lumen Christi JV squad. In this set Harper Ownbey popped up a few short balls while Jezelle Eskilida dished up 4 attacks from outside including a kill. The fourth and final set of Friday against Tri-Valley was the most exciting comeback of the day. The Bucs were asleep for the first 9 points of the game and found themselves in an 8 point hole. With grit and determination the Bucs clawed their way back into the game. Tri-Valley maintained their lead for the entirety of the game until Valdez edged in with a 24-24 tie. With only minutes left on the clock, the Bucs took their first lead of the night with a tip kill from Unger at the right side making the score 25-24. The Bucs ultimately claimed the victory 26-24 against Tri-Valley. The team was successful in this exciting set for a few key reasons: 1.) they never stopped giving their best effort, 2) they didn’t play safe–they kept putting up attacks, 3) they worked as a team, encouraging each other to the end. This was a terrific set to watch.
Saturday, the final day of the tournament, was a single-elimination bracket broken into two divisions– Gold and Silver. The Bucs had earned their way into the Gold bracket with their 7-0 winning record from the past two days. Their first match was against the Lumen Christi Varsity team. The Bucs came out full of energy, focus, and drive with a 25-14 victory. Savanah Pruitt delivered a streak of over 10 serves to the ArchAngels along with several attacks from the middle. Lumen Christi stole the momentum and the upper hand in set two, claiming a 13 – 25 win. The Bucs fell behind early in the third set with some dropped balls on serve receive. They recovered, but not by enough. The ArchAngels stole the final set 10-15 and the match victory. They were able to continue on in the bracket tournament while the Bucs were out at the beginning.
Overall this was a tremendous weekend filled with individual and team highlights. It was awesome having Buccaneer fans in the stands! Thanks for the support, Valdez! Way to go Bucs!
