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Noatak spikers win silver medal at state: Lynx drop 5-set thriller to glacier view in final

December 16th 1:36 pm | Van Williams Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

After two months of spikes, digs and serves, the mixed six volleyball season boiled down to the state tournament.

After three days of action, it came down to the state final.

After four sets, the championship came down to a few points.

And that was the difference between the Noatak Lynx winning and losing. It doesn't get any closer than that.

"Sometimes second place is a pretty sweet place to be," parent volunteer Tayna Kirk said.

True that.

Glacier View may have won the match, but both teams played liked champions during the five-set marathon [20-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 15-7] at the ASAA State Championships in Anchorage.

For the Lynx, just getting to the state tour- nament was a big deal. Never before had a mixed six volleyball team from Noatak won the district title. The Lynx did that, and they won two more matches at state to get to the final.

It was a magical storybook ending even if they didn't come out on top in the end.

"Noatak is not known for first-place this and first-place that, but they are winners in our eyes and we're proud of them," Kirk said. "Talking with some of the players afterwards ... sure they would have liked to have won, but overall I think they were happy."

Noatak's historic journey began after the coed team captured the Arctic Conference tournament title to lock up a good matchup at the state tournament.

In the first round the Lynx played Golovin from the Western Interior. Golovin was making its eighth consecutive appearance at state.

The Golovin program is one of Alaska's best in mixed six, making the state final in 2009 and 2008 and winning the state cham- pionship in 2004.

When the dust settled, though, Noatak had prevailed in a thrilling 21-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-22, 16-14 slugfest that seemed to validate to the players that they were good.

"They really began to see the light," Kirk said.

After that Noatak beat Aniak, another tournament veteran that went to the state finals just a year ago.

The Lynx swept the Half Breeds 25-16, 25-10, 25-22.

That victory only fueled the confidence of the Noatak players entering the biggest volleyball match of their lives.

If the players were nervous, they didn't show it.

Twice, Noatak rallied to tie the match with Glacier View.

Glacier View breezed into the final, winning 6 of 7 sets, and probably expected an easier time.

But the Lynx weren't having it.

"They are strong kids, and very humble," Kirk said. "They aren't showy or fancy, but look how far they came and we're proud."

The second team from the Arctic Conference, the Noorvik Bears, finished in fourth place with a 2-1 record.

They also won the tournament's Sportsmanship Award.

Noorvik opened with a 25-16, 25-14, 25-15 loss to Glacier View in the first round.

After that, though, the Bears roared back to win 6 of the next 7 sets, capped with a wild 19-25, 25-13, 25-16, 27-25 win over Golovin in the fourth-place game.

 

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