The Nome-Beltz High School girls volleyball team returned from the North-South Tournament in Seward on the seventh of this month. The young team got a chance for good experience over the two days of play, playing six matches on the first day alone.
Veronica Alviso is the coach for the Lady Nanooks.
“We ended up getting seeded fourth out of the seven teams, and that was after there was a three-way tie for third.”
The seeding was determined after the first day of games with sets to 25 points.
Alviso says her girls played competitively and that their attitudes made her proud.
“We had other coaches and other parents that came up to both myself and the assistant coach, Angela Hanson, and let us know just that we had really positive energy and that our girls were really fun to watch — their attitudes were really great both on and off the court — so, as coaches, that made us really proud, as well.”
Coach Alviso also mentions a pair of outstanding individual performances, starting with Minnie Clark, who earned team MVP honors during the Seward tournament. Clark also happens to be the only returning varsity player this year. The other player Alviso highlighted was Claire Hanson, who is the team’s setter.
Hanson played setter for the significant majority of the time because the Nanooks run a “5-1” style offense, meaning there is one setter running the offense at all times.
The Nome-Beltz girls traveled to Kotzebue this past Saturday, playing a pair of games against Kotzebue High School before the Huskies come to Nome next weekend.
Image at top: file photo: Mid-game volleying at the Nome Arctic Pinkies Volleyball Tournament in 2018. Photo: Emily Hofstaedter, KNOM.
