After an exciting finish to a remarkable past few months, the 2025 Seahawk volleyball season has come to an end. With lots of laughter, ventures around the state, and honorable mentions, the Seahawk ladies made this an exciting year to watch.
The season started with the infamous North-South tournament, which was hosted this year in our gym. The varsity team put yet another trophy in the case, placing third. Mikinley was named to the All-Tourney team, and Kyana received the sportsmanship award. This amazing kick-off gave the Seahawk ladies a headstart on the long season ahead!
The JV finished their season strong, winning many awards and competing in the North/South and Valdez tournaments. For the first time since 2011, Seward High hosted a tournament for eight JV teams! Placing an ecstatic win of second in the Silver bracket, the girls set the pace for the rest of their season. Kirra DesErmia got MVP.
They ventured to Valdez right after, placing first in the Silver bracket! Along with bringing home the trophies, Kirra DesErmia and Claire Anger both got an all-tournament team award! Amiyah Tatum shares her favorite moment of the season as “blasting music and doing bad karaoke on the way to Valdez.” Seems like a fun trip!
The rest of the season was very packed and eventful. They competed against regional teams like Kenai, Nikiski, Homer, Mountain City Christian Academy, Grace, Redington, and Houston. Ending with a record of 4-6. A great year for the Seward Seahawks JV team!
Varsity traveled to Valdez, bringing home another trophy for their third-place finish. Mikinley Williams and Kyana Hutchinson got all tournament. Next, the girls placed first in the Silver bracket during the 29th Annual Grace Tournament. As they continued winning, this gave them the opportunity to experiment with new rotations, as well as giving their pulled-up freshmen, Kirra DesErmia and Claire Anger, some deserved playing time.
The varsity team got to take multiple exciting trips around the state that are not traditionally places listed on the schedule. Traveling a total of 6,200 miles throughout the season the team has gone farther than any other sports team in the high school.
The first trip they took was to Sitka for four days. The girls swept the three games they played against Mt. Edgecumbe, but unfortunately, lost all the games to Sitka. While on the trip, the girls toured a Bear Conservation Center and learn about the habitats of bears in Alaska and how they adapt. The same day they were able to go to a raptor center and learn about the history of eagles and smaller birds in Alaska. This was an amazing and informative activity they got to do while they were away from their regular learning environment.
During Halloween weekend, the team ventured far north to Barrow. This was an exciting weekend as the girls took first! Mikinley, Jordan, and Kyana once again all got all-tournament team awards! Claire Anger shares that her favorite experience of the trip was “traveling to a new place, specifically Barrow because we got to Trick-or-Treat and forming new friendships with their team!” Lia Shank would also agree with this statement saying, “It was fun to run around town late at night and get candy even though it was freezing!” Sounds like a chilling adventure!
They placed third in Regions, which got them entry into State. Kyana Hutchinson, Jordan Hartman, and Mikinley Williams got all-tournament awards and Makena DesErmia got the Sportsmanship award along with Ava Jagelski getting an honorable mention!
Wrapping up the season with the first trip to state since 2021, the Seahawks took the challenge of competing with some of the top teams in the 3A bracket. The girls entered the tournament as the at-large team; the Seahawks were considered the underdogs. With high pressure and high stakes, they moved into the tournament headstrong. After many long days and many tears, the girls’s season was sadly concluded after a hard match to five sets against our rivals, the Nikiski Bulldogs. They placed fourth overall but were still incredibly proud of the outcome of their season.
This year the team says goodbye to two seniors, Kyana Hutchinson and Jordan Hartman. Both have played throughout high school and dedicated themselves to varsity all four years. Kyana would like her teammates to know she has enjoyed playing with them this year, and to continue to “have fun and win a lot!” Her favorite moment of this season was when Lia did the Orange Justice in Homer during a game. Jordan would like the girls to keep this in mind when on the court: “Let your mistakes go and enjoy playing the sport you love.” Inspirational words coming from this year’s 2025 graduates; you will be missed.
Overall, this was a great completion of the season, and as Mikinley Williams says, “A comeback season at best!” There were a lot of fond moments and triumphs to be proud of. Even though they missed a lot of school and were very stressed trying to complete all their homework while they were away, the season was very rewarding and worth every second! Go Seahawks!
