Daily Sitka Sentinel

Mt. Edgecumbe Spikers Place Fifth at State Championships

By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Mt. Edgecumbe High Lady Braves placed fifth over the weekend at the ASAA 3A/4A State Volleyball Championships in Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center.
    The whirlwind tournament was three days of double-elimination play. Mt. Edgecumbe saw action on Thursday with a 3 set to 0 loss to Grace Christian by the scores of 25-14, 25-15, 25-16.
    “It was nerves for the most part,” Mt. Edgecumbe coach Michael Mahoney said. “As a coaching staff we told them, for the most part, to go out there and have fun. For some of the players it was the first time at the state championships and there is a lot of pressure there. It’s a big venue. We started to develop some momentum in the third set but it was tough, I think our youth caught us.”
    The following morning the Lady Braves defeated Nome in three sets, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 to keep their state play alive.
Mt. Edgecumbe senior Amy Bioff is one of three Lady Braves from Nome, along with classmate Maggie Miller and junior Shayna Warnke-Green.

Mt. Edgecumbe senior Amy Bioff, shown in action at the regional championships, was selected to the State Volleyball All-Tournament team during the ASAA State Volleyball Championships in Anchorage last weekend. Mt. Edgecumbe placed fifth in the tourney.
(Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)

    Coach Mahoney said, “In the summer, Nome High School has the best volleyball team in the state.”
    Roughly three hours later the Lady Braves were playing an elimination game against Valdez, taking the first set 25-17 but the Buccaneers came back and won three straight 25-22, 25-19, 25-21. Junior Joeli Carlson (Bethel) suffered a back injury and couldn’t play, resulting in a different team rotation with Bioff setting more and senior Sanora Bell (Yakutat) getting more rotations.
    “That was a tough match,” Mahoney said. “The game was going smoothly and the girls were playing well. We outplayed every team we faced. We just picked a bad time to have troubles from the service line. We gave opponents a lot of points that we shouldn’t have. We walked out of that match feeling down but the girls can hold their heads high. They played hard.”
    Valdez beat Homer later that night, and Grace (25-15, 25-22, 25-17) on Saturday morning to face Nikiski in the championship. The Buccaneers beat the Bulldogs in the title match 25-17, 21-25, 25-22, 25-22, but since it was the Nikiski’s first loss the two teams immediately played an “if necessary” game for the state championship with Nikiski beating Valdez 30-22.
    Final tourney standings were Nikiski, Valdez, Grace, Homer, Mt. Edgecumbe, Monroe, Nome, and Barrow.
Mt. Edgecumbe fell to two of the top three teams at the 3A state tourney.
    “We are right there with the best teams in the state of Alaska,” Mahoney said. “I was really proud of them.”
    Bioff was named to the All-State Tournament team. She earned a state championship as a sophomore with the Lady Braves and was selected as a Player of the Game during that tournament run.
    “It was definitely great to be back in the stadium,” Bioff said. “Especially after being out for the season last year. Going into the tournament I was confident in our team and how close we were as a team to work together to get high into the bracket. I think going in my goal was to enjoy it because it was the last week of volleyball of my high school career.”
    The 3A All-Tourney selections were Bioff (MEHS); Bethany Carstens, Kelsey Clark and Kaitlyn Johnson (Nikiski); Kassandra Howard and Sydney Johnson (Valdez); Briana Master and Megan Cowell (Grace); Brianna Hetrick and Marina Carroll (Homer); Chloe Maynard (Monroe); and Kastyn Lie (Nome).
    This was the last high school volleyball action for senior Bioff, Bell, Grace Garner (Ouzinkie), Leticia Skaflestad (Hoonah), Haley Sweet-Cushing (Haines) and Tyra Brown (Chevak).
    “I was really proud of the girls,” Garner said. “Everyone was communicating well on the court. If anyone had a hard time we all helped them out. Everybody played their best. We all stuck together throughout the whole season.”
    Bell said she was nervous but settled down immediately.
    “Everyone made me feel comfortable,” she said. “Our success was everyone staying together as a team. We never got mad at each other.”
    Brown sprained her ankle half-way through the season and was lost until regions. The team has a special play designed for her tip and it was a main part of the offense.
    “I was really nervous,” Brown said. “My timing was off, but I looked to the left and right and went up with my teammates. I was glad to be back on the court tipping and killing.”
    Skaflestad provided error-free play along the net during the tourney.
    “We have a lot of good hitters,” Skaflestad said. “We try to mix it up between hitting, tipping and pushing, so a lot of times I like to tip it or push it, whereas Tyra or Haley can really kill it and can get up and block.”
    Sweet-Cushing agreed with her teammates.
    “You always see other teams having drama on the court,” she said. “This season we were super close to each other. We spend every week with each other yet we manage to laugh everything out and that made us closer. And I hope it stays that way, even after the season and after our school year.”
    Mahoney said it was great watching the team develop through the season and finish at state.
    “We brought 12 players to the tournament,” Mahoney said. “And we needed 12.”
    On the 4A state volleyball championship side, Juneau’s Thunder Mountain Falcons opened state play with a 3-0 set loss to West Anchorage, beat West Valley 3 games to 1 on Friday, and were eliminated by South Anchorage 3 games to 0. Falcons senior Audrey Welling was named to the All-State Tournament team.
    Dimond High School won the tournament and their fourth consecutive state volleyball championship which has been done only twice before, by Service (1989-1992) and Valdez (2001-2004).
    Dimond did not drop a set, sweeping Colony on Thursday morning and South on Thursday evening, West Anchorage in Friday’s semifinals and West again (25-23, 25-23, 25-21) in Saturday’s title match.
    This was the 10th state volleyball title for Dimond coach Kim Lauwers. The Lynx were undefeated in the state this year, 23-0 in matches.
Lynx senior Alissa Pili, the 2017-18 Max Preps Sports national female athlete of the year, is a multi-sport state champion in basketball, track, wrestling, and volleyball and will be attending the University of Southern California on a basketball scholarship.
    The 4A all-tournament team selections are Welling (TMHS); Pili, Hahni Johnson and Reilly Plumhoff (Dimond); Brooke Dexter, Donika Brown and Kelsey Ross (West); Erin Doner and Kylie Hurd (South); Hallee Yundt and Isabel List (Colony); and Itauau Tuisaula (Soldotna).