The Homer Mariners varsity volleyball team started out their season with a new coach this weekend at the Homer Jamboree, where the team took fourth.
The Soldotna Stars overtook Seward’s team by the end of the event 21-8 and 21-15 for first place Saturday at Homer High School. Kenai later toppled Homer 21-17 and 21-12 for third.
The Jamboree was a round robin, in which teams played two sets to 21, with a cap of 23 points. The final sets to decide first and third place were best two out of three.
Homer being placed in the game for third against Kenai came down to points, said coach Erin Brege, as Homer had won as many games as SoHi at that point.
This is Berg’s first year as head coach, and she just recently arrived in Alaska. Though the Homer team took fourth, Brege said the players showed good teamwork throughout the round robin.
“It’s really only been two to three days since I’ve been working with the girls because I came in pretty late, so (all) of the offensive and defensive systems, the positions, all of that has just been put into place in the last couple days,” she said.
“And so I was impressed by their work ethic, their understanding, and we can only move up from here.”
The team has a pool of raw talent Brege plans on tapping into, she said. Fine tuning the players’ confidence will be part of that, she said.
“It’s a year of growth really, for this team,” she said.
Brege has only one senior this year, with a team that’s heavy on sophomores and juniors. Many of them did not play at the varsity level last year, coming up this year from the junior varsity and C teams.
“I think there’s … so much potential that we are just going to kind of release that,” Brege said.
In the round robin, Kenai and Homer split with Kenai winning 21-13 and Homer winning 21-13, Seward defeated SoHi 22-20 and 21-19, Seward swept Kenai 21-16 and 21-11, Homer split with SoHi with Homer winning 21-19 and SoHi winning 21-16, SoHi beat Kenai 21-17 and 21-8, and Homer split with Seward with Homer winning 21-19 and Seward winning 21-12.
Reach Megan Pacer at megan.pacer@homernews.com.
