Life as a No-See-Um: Vollyball

Volleyball

Lukas Zackar

This year’s Igiugig volleyball team members were Tess, Loretta, Dolly Ann, and Lukas. Our coach was Tanya. All of us started off not very confident in ourselves and we lacked skills. Practice really helped us get a lot better. The drills Tanya made us do definitely paid off. The community also contributed by supporting and scrimmaging against us every Thursday.

The first meet of the year was held here in Igiugig. All of the LPSD North schools came, which were Port Alsworth, Newhalen, Kokhanok, Levelock, and Nondalton. Each team got a chance to play each other because it wasn’t a tournament. We went undefeated for both six-man and three-man games. Kaleb and Fewnia helped us win the six-man games. The community gave us a lot of support throughout the jamboree by showing up to our games. The teams had to do service projects, such as getting wood for elders and recycling pop cans for the village council. During the week everyone enjoyed themselves and got along well.

The second and last volleyball district meet was held in Perryville. This time both North and South schools went. The South schools included Port Heiden, Chignik Lake, Chignig Bay, and Egegik. It was a double elimination tournament so a team had to lose twice before they were out. The six-man teams were there just to play each other for fun to get more practice for their district tournament. Many of the games were close and exciting. The championship game was evenly matched between Pilot Point and us. We lost the first match and won the next three in a best out of five game. Igiugig won the district championship going undefeated the whole season.

I think we really deserved this championship because we certainly worked hard to earn it. The team truly appreciates the time Tanya took to coach us and help us improve our game. She saw what we needed to work on and had us practice it until we got it down. Also the community boosted our confidence by showing up to our home games and the pep rally’s that were held. The No-See-Ums are ready for another good volleyball season next year.