Posted 10-6-09

Volleyball Wins in Craig

It was two up, two down for The Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves volleyball team during a trip to Craig this past weekend.

The Lady Braves won Friday and Saturday nights to run their 3A conference winning streak to 40 matches.

The wins improved Mt. Edgecumbe to 7-0 on the season and the Lady Braves have not dropped a match to a 3A opponent from Southeast, Alaska in more than two years.

Coach Rich Calkins said he liked what he saw from his squad Friday night on Prince of Wales Island. The Lady Braves won 25-12, 25-20 and 25-13 to take the match and Calkins said his girls passed and served extremely well.

``We did what we had to do, it was nice to see,'' Calkins said, singling out Britley Calkins (Sitka), Christina Fields (Kotzebue) and Colby Howarth (Kotzebue) for their strong play.

Fields and Howarth are part of a crop of players who are new to the Edgecumbe volleyball team in 2009, while Calkins is one of three returning players from the 2008 Region V championship team.

Coach Calkins said the 2009 team is talented, but it remains to be seen if they will develop chemistry in time to make a run deep into the state tournament.

“The team is still somewhat inconsistent at this juncture in the season. After dominating Craig on Friday night, the Lady Braves had a sub-par effort on Saturday,” coach Calkins said.

Edgecumbe won the match in four games (25-23, 25-19, 16-25 and 25-20) but Calkins was not pleased with his team's serving or passing.

"We had an all-around team let-down the second night,'' Calkins said.

It is a measure of the high expectations at Mt. Edgecumbe that Calkins was upset with a win. But during the Lady Braves' 40-match winning streak, they have dropped very few games to Southeast opponents. And Calkins knows that better teams await the Lady Braves as the season progresses.

"Hopefully it was a learning experience,'' Calkins said. "A bad match can sink your hopes and dreams real quick."

The Region V tournament is double elimination, so it's safe to assume Calkins was referring to the state tournament. Mt. Edgecumbe expects to be there in 2009, but the team's first goal is capture a third straight Southeast title.

Mt. Edgecumbe will host the Southeast tournament Nov. 5-7 at B.J. McGillis Gymnasium.

Up next for the Lady Braves is a trip to Juneau for the annual JIVE tournament this weekend.