The Wrangell Lady Wolves were eager to play their way through the Division 2A state volleyball championship tournament in Anchorage last weekend. But after losing their first match, they faced a grueling schedule with three matches in one day and came up short, ending their season with a fourth-place finish.

The Wolves’ opening match on Thursday, Dec. 4, was against last year’s state high school champs, the Unalaska Raiders, who came into the tournament with a 17-match win streak.

The first set was a bit of a blowout as the Raiders won 25-13, but the Wolves came out strong in the next set and made the Unalaska team work hard for their 25-23 win. The final set ended with the Raiders’ victorious 25-20.

Unalaska moved on, winning three more tournament matches and taking the state title on Saturday, with Wrangell dropping down to the losers bracket.

Christina Johnson earned a Player of the Match award for the Wolves in Thursday’s Unalaska matchup. Johnson said the three sets were the highlight of the tournament for her, particularly “how we played at such a high level compared to our other games, especially since they were our hardest competition.”

Wrangell earned its first win of the tournament on Friday morning against Healy’s Tri-Valley Warriors, who had played the Wolves in Wrangell in October and lost all three sets.

Tri-Valley won the first set at state 27-25 before Wrangell won the next three sets with scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 25-10.

Sophia Martinsen was named the Player of the Match for the series with Tri-Valley.

Next up for the Wolves was Dillingham. The match went to a full five sets, with Wrangell outlasting the Wolverines and winning.

Dillingham took the first, 25-16, before Wrangell bounced back and took the next two sets by identical scores of 25-21. The Wolverines won the fourth set 25-20 before the Wolves powered through and won the final set — which is played to 15 points — by a score of 15-9.

Junior Alana Harrison received Player of the Match for the match.

Wrangell’s season ended with a loss on Friday against Sand Point in three sets, its second defeat of the tournament. It was their third match of the day. The final scores were 25-14, 25-21 and 25-18. Paige Hoyt was awarded Player of the Match.

For the Unalaska Raiders, it was the second state title in a row. The team looked unstoppable, going 12-1 in sets over the three-day tournament.

The Susitna Valley Rams placed second, losing back-to-back matches to Unalaska on Saturday.

The Wolves returned home on Sunday.

All-Tournament medals were given to Wrangell’s Johnson and Harrison.

“I’m most excited to see how our team dynamic is going to be next year, especially with our seniors gone and what that will look like for us,” said Harrison.

Johnson and Hoyt will graduate in May, but the returning Lady Wolves came away from the state tournament confident in their abilities to compete next year.