The Lady Mariner volleyball team toned up its skills this weekend with two non-conference matches, playing their rival team Kenai on Friday and engaging in the dynamic Alice Witte Alumni Match on Saturday. 

Head Coach Beth Trowbridge said she is pleased with the team’s improvement.

“I see their level of play going up after each match,” said Trowbridge. “We are working on improving our communication and passing so that we can be more effective on our offense and defense and this has really improved over the last two weeks.” 

The lead was volleyed between Kenai and Homer during their five matches. Homer won two games, with final scores of 23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 22-25 and 12-15.

Despite the momentum of team improvement, the Mariners seemed to lower their guard during the Alumni Match, losing the three matches 19-25, 23-25, 15-25.

Trowbridge noted there were more miscommunications and mistakes earlier in the season as the team first learned how to work together.

“The team flows much better now that the players have settled into primary positions and have enough game experience to learn each other’s tendencies, range, limits and abilities. Now they are moving well on the court and able to anticipate each other better. They have the benefit of being a close knit group anyway, which has helped them tremendously and I feel they are just building on that. They are very supportive of each other.”

Trowbridge said the team will work on the “mental aspect” of play as well as staying confident and “finishing games” before competing in Regions in Seward Nov. 7-9.

“They have developed their skills nicely and are very athletic and strong. Now they need to work on staying mentally focused at all times and believing in themselves.”

The team will compete in a tournament Oct. 11 and 12 at Grace Christian School in Anchorage.

Shannon Reid is a freelance writer who lives in Homer.