The Wolverines beat Delta 16-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-21 to advance to today's semifinals, where they'll meet Anchorage Christian. Grace Christian will meet Monroe in the other semifinal.
Dillingham is located at the head of Bristol Bay in western Alaska, and most of its closest opponents are located in places like Kotzebue and Nome.
That means that the team must fly to all its away matches -- and tickets to Nome aren't cheap. To counter the high cost of travel in the Bush, the Wolverines instead took several trips to tournaments in Anchorage this season, saving on plane tickets and getting a higher level of competition in the process.
"We wanted to focus on going to tournaments this year rather than staying in our region," Dillingham coach Helen Smeaton said.
For the team to travel to the conference tournament in Hooper Bay, Dillingham shelled out more than $10,000. That's more than double what it cost to get to Anchorage for the state tournament, Smeaton said.
"It's actually much cheaper to come here," she said.
Dillingham looked a bit jet-lagged in the opening set against Delta, falling 25-16 to the taller Huskies. But the team stayed calm thanks to a mantra that they use when things aren't going well.
"WWVBD," said Smeaton's daughter, Kristen, who was named Player of the Match after posting 15 kills and three blocks.
That stands for "What would Vic Belleque do?" -- a reference to the stern former Dillingham coach brought in earlier this season by Smeaton to help tutor her team.
"It's kind of a joke for us, but it works," Kristen Smeaton said.
After getting dominated in the opening set, Dillingham opened the second with a 5-0 run and never looked back, winning 25-16. The Wolverines then took a tense third set, blowing a 10-2 lead before pulling out a 25-23 win.
Delta was unable to recover from the loss of momentum, and Dillingham finished the match with a big kill from Stacey Rolf and an unreturned serve by Mindy Heyano.
Rolf finished with 12 kills for Dillingham, while Kali Eveslage and Rachel Sorensen each had 10.
This is the first year Dillingham has played at the Class 3A level, but Kristen Smeaton said she and her teammates aren't intimidated because they're one of the smallest schools in the tournament.
"Our goal is to beat the No. 1 team," she said.
If that doesn't happen, she said the Wolverines are looking to make the most of their final trip to the big city this season.
"We want to make sure we put our best into this no matter what we do," she said.
ACS 3, Petersburg 0
Anchorage Christian showed why it's the defending state champion, rolling over Petersburg 25-15, 25-16, 25-17 to advance into today's semifinals.
Debbiey Simmers led ACS with 16 kills and seven blocks, while Sarah Sullivan added nine blocks and Chanell Bennett had 15 assists.
Kylene Hedlund led Petersburg with five kills and libero Morgan Falter added 19 digs.
Monroe 3, Kotzebue 0
Monroe cruised to an easy 25-6, 25-9, 25-22 win over Kotzebue, allowing 15 points through the first two sets.
The Rams were led by senior middle hitter Katie Young's seven kills and eight blocks, while Ashley King added eight kills and a block.
Grace Christian 3, Mt Edgecumbe 0
A balanced attack lifted Grace Christian to a 25-18, 25-14, 25-20 victory over Mount Edgecumbe.
Allison Pargeter led the Grizzlies with five kills, 34 assists and 21 digs. Megan Barnes had a game-high 13 kills for Grace, while Brandi Caylor smashed nine kills, Brooke Leadbetter had eight, Danis Henderson had seven and Lydia Vilce added 20 digs.
Christina Fields had six kills and three aces for Mount Edgecumbe, which also got five kills and four blocks from Nicole Pingayak.
Find Matt Tunseth online at adn.com/contact/mtunseth or call 257-4335.
ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Class 3A volleyball
At West High
Thursday's Results
Dillingham def. Delta, 16-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-21 ACS def. Petersburg, 25-15, 25-16, 25-17 Monroe def. Kotzebue, 25-6, 25-9, 25-22 Grace def. Mt. Edgecumbe 25-18, 25-15, 25-20
Today's Matches
Consolations
9 a.m. -- Delta Junction vs. Petersburg 10:45 a.m. --Kotzebue vs. Mt. Edgecumbe
Semifinals
2 p.m. -- Dillingham vs. Anchorage Christian 5:30 p.m. -- Monroe vs. Grace Christian
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.