The Craig High School volleyball team grabbed the inside track on the top seed for Southeast 2A volleyball last week, beating Petersburg in five games Friday morning.

The region’s small schools were playing in Klawock in the first of two tournaments that will determine seeding at the regional tournament this fall.

Petersburg played Wrangell Wednesday night, just off the ferry, and won in four games after dropping the second game to the Wolves. The Vikings beat both Klawock and Haines in three games Thursday, setting up a matchup with Craig Friday morning.

In that match, the Panthers won the first two games 25-23 and 26-24. The Vikings came back to take the next two 25-16 and 25-11 but coach Jaime Cabral said his team got off to a slow start in the fifth and final game.

“We started off with four unforced errors right off the bat in game five and that is tough to come back in a game to 15,” Cabral said. “So we ended up losing 15-10. But as we were watching the videos, talking with the girls, we know it was all our mistakes. So, they are ready to work this week. So they are primed and ready to finish the season strong.”

Cabral highlighted contributions from his players. “Kaia Dahl got an injury while we were there in our first set against Craig and so Emma Chase stepped up and ran the offense and did a tremendous job,” he said. “Courtney Frederickson on the outside was just hitting fabulous the whole weekend. Teams had a tough time stopping her. Our middles did a great job of blocking with Tanya Spears and Elisa Larson. Our defensive specialists really kept us in some long, long rallies with Chandler Strickland and Hana Newman. And then Kaitlin Willis came off the bench and played on our right side and performed phenomenally in those games against Craig, competitive throughout the weekend.”

With that win, Craig holds the top seed in the region and Petersburg is number two, but the Vikings still have a chance to change that. A second seeding tournament is in Skagway in early November.

Meanwhile, Petersburg hosts teams from four other schools this weekend. Sitka and Ketchikan will bring younger teams, along with Craig and Klawock. Matches start Friday, October 28 at 4 p.m. and all day Saturday with games in the high school and community gyms. Championship matches will be Saturday night, October 29 in the high school gym. This is the next to last chance to watch the volleyball team play at home. The Vikings also have a home match in mid-November against Wrangell.