Wrangell’s volleyball team put together a meet record of 3-11 at the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza (JIVE) Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3-4, reflecting the team’s first wins and losses of the season.
Nine schools from across the state attended the busy tournament, coming from as far away as Utqiagvik (Barrow) and Anchorage, as well Haines, Skagway, Ketchikan, Sitka, Wrangell, Metlakatla and home team Juneau.
While half of the teams had already seen about a month and a half of play — being from bigger schools — this was the first opportunity for Division 2A teams from the smaller schools to test their skills.
The Lady Wolves lost their first two games Friday morning against West Anchorage High School. They then recovered, going 1-1 against Ketchikan, before losing their last two sets of the night in their match against Metlakatla.
The next morning the girls faced the same matchup, losing again to the Miss Chiefs, before moving on to their last match of pool play and losing both sets to Sitka.
Pool play, or round robin, took place all day Friday and the first half of Saturday. Teams were then placed into the Silver Bracket or Gold Bracket, based on their records. Wrangell earned a spot in the Silver Bracket along with Haines, Skagway and West Anchorage junior varsity.
Wrangell earned a win against Haines to open bracket play, taking both sets and moving on to the Silver Bracket championship match against West Anchorage JV. They lost to Anchorage, finishing second in the bracket.

Barrow, in its first appearance at JIVE, won the Gold Bracket, defeating Metlakatla, Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé and West Anchorage High School in Saturday's matches.

After the games, at the post-tournament awards ceremony, Wrangell’s Natalia Ashton was given a good sportsmanship award and senior Christina Johnson received an all-tournament medal.
Despite the rough start to the season, assistant coach Lynsie Morelli said she is “excited to see the experience from this weekend and putting it into the next tournaments coming up.”
Head coach Shelly Powers added, “Our teamwork aspect of how this team is jiving together as a whole looked really good. Even in the moments where we were struggling, the girls seemed to keep a positive mentality.”
The team’s little mistakes are what cost them the games, said captain Christina Johnson. Those included net violations and missed serves.
The Wolves are not stressing over their losses, however, and are ready to get back on their feet and compete in the North Seeding Tournament in Haines on Oct. 16-18 and their only home meet of the season when the Tri-Valley Warriors from Healy come to Wrangell Oct. 24-25.