The Lady Wolves varsity team demolished the Tri-Valley Warriors from Healy during Wrangell’s only home games this season Friday and Saturday, Oct. 24-25. The team also took time out from the matches to recognize the three seniors on the squad.

Friday afternoon marked the start of the two-day competition with the junior varsity teams playing a best two-out-of-three match. Wrangell lost two sets, 16-25 in the first and 22-25 in the second.

The senior recognition event followed the JV games, with Ava Garrett, Paige Hoyt and Christina Johnson recognized for their achievements and what they have brought to the Wrangell team, as well as their future plans.

Garrett plans to study computer science at Western Colorado University. Hoyt wants to go to the University of Connecticut to study sports media and music production. Johnson will attend Northern Arizona University and go into nursing.

The varsity team had a rocky start Friday evening to their best-of-five matchup against the Warriors, losing 16-25 due to an onslaught of missed serves and bad passing. They came back strong, however, and won the next three sets with scores of 25-12, 25-17 and 25-21.

Both Alexis Easterly and Alana Harrison were huge contributors to win, with some amazing net play by both players. From block to tip to kill, neither of them could be stopped.

Four games were played Saturday in an effort to get as much playing time as possible for the schools, particularly as it was such a long journey from Healy to Wrangell.

Klawock had been scheduled to join the weekend competition, but bad weather prevented their travel to Wrangell.

The JV teams started play at noon Saturday, followed by the varsity teams at 2 p.m., the JV squads again at 4 p.m., and rounding out the night with varsity matches starting at 6 p.m.

The Wrangell JV team lost again, but kept it close in the first game, losing by scores of 22-25 and 18-25.

The varsity team started out strong in their first game Saturday against the Warriors, ending the set with a 25-15 win. The second set was much closer before ending with a win for the Wolves, 25-23.

They lost their footing in the third set, however, losing 17-25, forcing a fourth set, which they won 27-25.

The final JV game followed, only playing one set in order to give the players a rest before the final game of the weekend. The Tri-Valley JV came out ahead 25-8.

The varsity teams then finished out the night, with a strong match for the Lady Wolves, winning with scores of 25-13, 25-15 and 25-17.

With some amazing digs by Sophia Martinsen, overall better passing than the night before, and Wrangell scoring the point to end some long rallies, coach Brian Herman said it was some of the best volleyball he had seen the team play in a long time.

The Lady Wolves will participate in the South Seeding Tournament in Craig on Nov. 6-8 to finish out the rankings before making their way to Southeast regionals in Skagway on Nov. 20-22. So far Wrangell is the front runner, followed by the Petersburg Vikings and the Metlakatla Miss Chiefs.