High School Sports

Parity has long been absent in Anchorage high school volleyball. Not this season.

Every season since 2010, the Cook Inlet Conference volleyball trophy has gone to either the Dimond Lynx or South Wolverines. No other CIC team has even made the championship match in that span.

At the state tournament, dominance by those two teams extends even back further — one or the other has won every state championship since 2005.

This year, things could be different.

The Lynx have won the last two CIC titles and are the favorite again heading into next week's tournament with a 13-1 conference record.

But several teams have shown they are contenders. Bartlett (11-3), South (9-5), West (9-5) and East (8-6) have all put together impressive seasons.

The regular season concluded with a bang Tuesday, when Dimond came from behind to beat West 17-15 in the deciding fifth set.

"That's kind of a sneak preview of what our CIC is like this year and what next week is going to be like," Dimond coach Kim Lauwers said after the match. "All the teams are great and it's going to probably come down to the team that makes less unforced errors."

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West's success is among the biggest surprises this season. The Eagles are led by April Stahl, the coach from 2004-08 who returned this season. A UAA volleyball player in the late '90s, Stahl has helped instill a feeling of confidence in the Eagles' locker room.

"I feel like we've had lots of motivation due to our new coaching staff," said West senior libero Faith Marroquin. "They're really empowering and they've definitely raised the bar a lot since they're been here."

West, which went 6-8 in the CIC last year, is the only team to beat Dimond in CIC play this year.

The Eagles swept they Lynx in a Sept. 19 conference match and also beat them in the West Spiketacular tournament championship last month in a nonconference match. That earned the Eagles their first title in their own tournament since 2004.

"Our biggest moment was definitely winning the West Spiketacular," Marroquin said. "I think that's when we knew we were capable of making it to state.

"This year we're definitely creating a name for ourselves as a team."

The Cook Inlet Conference will receive three berths to the state tournament.

At practice, Stahl sometimes brings in former college players to scrimmage her team, including former UAA players Morgan Hooe, Stacie Meisner and Katina Ozrelic and former UAF setter Carolina Robancho-Muehlenkamp, who was Stahl's rival in college.

The Eagles have also done team building activities off the court. At the Alaska Escape Rooms in downtown Anchorage, the team had to solve a series of puzzles and riddles to make it out of a series of rooms within one hour.

"They got out, (but) it was hard," Stahl said. "By doing things like that, they see they can't do it without the person next to them."

Stahl said the parity in the CIC this season should make for an exciting conference tournament. As a Bartlett alum, she's proud to see the Golden Bears' recent success as well.

"I think their coach (Misi Situfu) has done an amazing job," Stahl said. "I just love that the volleyball community is getting more and more competitive and it's not just specific schools."

Lauwers said she's noticed better play defensively in the CIC this year, which is a big reason for the boost in the competition level. Players are fighting for every ball.

"There are no gimmes. Every team is going to have to play hard (next week)," she said. "I think it's going to be a great region tournament."

CIC standings

Dimond         13-1
Bartlett          11-3
South             9-5
West              9-5
East               8-6
Chugiak        4-10
Service          1-13
Eagle River   1-13

CIC first-round matches at Service High

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Tuesday

3:30 p.m. — West vs. East

5:30 p.m. — Bartlett vs. Service

7:30 p.m. — Dimond vs. Eagle River

Wednesday

5:30 p.m. — South vs. Chugiak

Stephan Wiebe

Stephan Wiebe writes about all things Alaska sports.

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