Cordova’s Lady Wolverines made it to the State tournament in their first season of 2A competition last year, and will start the new season with a young team seeking that same success.
A new coaching staff will tackle the rebuilding project that saw three starters graduate. Brad Sjostedt, CHS boys’ assistant coach for four years, is now at the helm of the Lady W’s, and his assistant will be new PE/Health teacher Dani Hayden, who played basketball at 4A Colony High of the Mat/Su Valley.
Sjostedt stepped in to coach the junior high girls earlier this year, and had them quickly learning about the scrappy defense and aggressive play that he hopes will be a hallmark of the Lady Wolverines now and in the future.
“We have only 11 players out for the high school team this year, but hope to count on the good bunch of younger players coming up to expand the program”, said Sjostedt.
This year’s squad will feature one senior, one junior, and a bunch of sophomores, but several have logged significant playing time. The sole senior is Leigh Peebles, a 6-0 post player who was recently named to the 2A All-State volleyball. She will be joined on the front line by sophomore Riley Butler, a strong 5-11 inside presence, plus junior Samantha Vargas. Key perimeter players will be sophomores Abby Bourgeois, Jieller Tabara, and Edrea Navarro, all who have shown they can hit the three pointers.
Almost all the squad just completed their volleyball season, and will have to make a quick transition to basketball.
“Well, they should be in pretty good shape, but now they’ll have to learn to catch the ball, instead of hitting it,” joked Sjostedt.
They won’t have much time before making the transition. The Lady W’s will be traveling to Anchorage for the Rally the Regions tournament on December 27-30, and will face Dillingham, Unalaska, and Bristol Bay in the first three rounds. They then face Tok in road games on January 6-7 before playing their first home games against Su-Valley here on Jan. 13-14. That game should feature a lot of familiar faces, for it was Su-Valley that topped Cordova in volleyball at Regionals and then knocked them out of the State 2A tournament.
