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For the second straight year, the Mt. Edgecumbe High School Lady Braves rebounded after a first-round loss to take fourth place at the 3A state volleyball tournament. Mt. Edgecumbe fell to Grace Christian Academy in the opener Thursday night, but came back to beat Kotzebue and Petersburg in the consolation bracket.
The Lady Braves beat the Lady Vikings 25-6, 25-20 and 25-23 in the fourth-place game Saturday, a re-match of the Region V final.
``It was a good year, and it's always better to win your last game,'' MEHS assistant coach Archie Young said. ``The girls finished the right way.''
The Braves fell in three straight games to Grace in the first-round, losing 25-18, 25-15 and 25-20. Young called it a ``rough start,'' and said the Lady Braves could not get a break in the opening round.
But Mt. Edgecumbe came back strong Friday morning, beating Kotzebue in straight sets with wins of 25-19, 26-24 and 25-21. That victory set up another match with Petersburg, the fifth of the season for Mt. Edgecumbe. The Braves ran their record to 5-0 against the Lady Vikings, capturing their 49th straight win over a 3A conference opponent.
Young said the Mt. Edgecumbe coaching staff was proud of the Lady Braves for regrouping after the emotional drain of losing in the first-round, a loss that dashed Edgecumbe's state title hopes. It was the first loss of the year against a 3A team for Mt. Edgecumbe.
``It was a good showing of resiliency,'' Young said. ``It's hard to bounce back in the state tournament.''
He added: ``It's been a great season, it's tough to see it marred by one loss. We've very happy with the girls -- they did a really good job for us.''
It was a similar story for Mt. Edgecumbe in 2008, when the Lady Braves lost to Grace in the first round, then came back to take fourth. And as was the case in 2008, Anchorage Christian School won the state title. The Lions didn't lose a game in the state tournament, with three-game sweeps of Petersburg, Dillingham and Monroe Catholic.
After beating Mt. Edgecumbe, Grace lost to Monroe in the semifinals. Grace bounced back with a win over Dillingham to take third. Petersburg fell to ACS in the first round, but beat Delta Junction to advance to the fourth-place game.
Bessie Binkowski and Christina Fields were voted to the all-state team for Mt. Edgecumbe. Fields was also named the tournament's ``best server.'' In Mt. Edgecumbe's three games Fields (vs. Grace), Binkowski (vs. Kotzebue) and Britley Calkins (vs. Petersburg) earned ``player of the game'' honors.
The 2009 Mt. Edgecumbe roster featured five seniors who led the Lady Braves to a third straight Region V title: Calkins, Binkowski, Connie Melovidov, Whitney Weber and Nicole Pingayak. But key players like Fields, Colby Howarth and Brenna Johanson should be back in 2010
Mt. Edgecumbe has dominated 3A volleyball in Southeast for three years. In 2006, Petersburg and Wrangell represented Southeast at the state tournament. But since then, the Lady Braves have not dropped a match to a 3A conference opponent, wining three conference titles.
In 2007, the Lady Braves lost in the state final to Cordova, and followed that up with two straight fourth-place finishes.