In round-robin play Friday, the Mariners advanced to the top Gold Pool round by winning seven of 10 games, beating Grace Christian, Heritage, Glennallen, Lathrop, North Pole, Delta and Hutchison, while losing to Cordova, Valdez and Palmer.
On Saturday, the team lost close games to Valdez (20-25), Heritage (21-25), Palmer (22-25) and Cordova (20-15), while beating Grace Christian (25-14).
So far this season, the young Mariner team has shown flashes of strong play, especially at the net and in the serving game.
But consistency is still a work in progress, said Head Volleyball Coach Beth Trowbridge.
“Overall I think our inexperience shows in the lack of consistency in our play,” Trowbridge said. “But we keep learning and getting better with each power team we face and the girls know they can compete with these more experienced teams.”
While the Mariners lost four of five games Saturday, their scores were better against the three top teams — Valdez, Palmer and Cordova — than during round-robin play Friday.
And Trowbridge said the girls likely will build on the experience.
“Many of these girls had not played in such an intensive tournament before — so it was also a learning experience in that they had to figure out how to overcome fatigue, mental let down, and hunger to keep on playing their best,” said Trowbridge. “I thought they did great and ended very strong — so that is a good thing.”
Especially impressive, Trowbridge said, was the play of Emily Luebbert who tied with Rachel Bornheimer for a team-leading 35 kills in the tournament.
Luebbert also led the team with 40 digs and served at a high 93 percent.
Bornheimer and Reba Temple continued to block well at the net, combining for 24 solo blocks and Brittney VanSandt earned a spot at the All Gold Tournament Team with her defense (29 digs) and team-high 12 aces.
After playing 19 games in five days, the Mariners might be seeing volleyballs in their sleep, but they won’t be able to let up this weekend as Homer will host the Peninsula Challenge Friday and Saturday.
Soldotna, Skyview, Houston, Eagle River and Service will play each other and Homer’s varsity and JV teams during the weekend.
After the tournament, the Mariners have two weekends off, but travel to Skyview Tuesday for a conference match.
Ben Stuart can be reached at ben.stuart@ homernews.com.
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