Unalaska High School Volleyball

The Unalaska High School Raiders played their final conference volleyball games last weekend and will go into their regional tournament as a top contender.

The Unalaska Raiders kicked off their volleyball season with a strong start and a lot of fight, winning their first match in the Lumen Christi Spiketacular Tournament this week. The young athletes and their new head coach traveled to Anchorage to compete against six teams in the annual tournament.Joni Scott, the former head coach for the Unalaska cross country team, now leads the island’s volleyball team, which started playing tournament matches around 9 a.m. on Saturday and didn’t finish until nearly midnight that night.

For their very first match of the season, Unalaska hosted Lumen Christi, a private Catholic high school in Anchorage. And not only was it their first conference match, but it was also senior night for nine of the student athletes.Prior to the game, Peter said she was anticipating a lot of intense emotions from the athletes, especially from the older ones.“It's going to be interesting tonight, first game and senior night,” she said. “It's going to be a weird mix of emotions.”And she was right. Friends, family and fans packed the stands, while the team hugged one another, their tears and laughter carrying through the high school gym.

While they came close to qualifying, the Unalaska girls volleyball team won’t be heading to the state tournament this year. They finished up their season at Lumen Christi High School in Anchorage last weekend, after coming in third place against five other teams at regionals.

Last Thursday, Unalaska's High School volleyball team gathered for a media day event.Head Coach Rachel Peter said the event was a chance to improve team…