News Photo by Owen Kinzey Members of the Alpena High School junior and senior classes pose at the conclusion of a powder puff volleyball game on Sunday in the Alpena High gym.

ALPENA — Kicking off homecoming week at Alpena High School, the Wildcats decided to host their first-ever powder puff Volleyball match on Sunday.

In this match, Alpena’s senior boys took on the junior boys and ultimately won the best out of three sets, 2-0, by scores of 25-13 and 25-16.

Another match occurred as an exhibition match to 15, where the juniors upset the seniors 15-11.

“Being able to coach this event was so much fun, and it was so exciting to see the boys improve throughout the practices. I’m super proud of them and so happy with how they played today,” Senior coach Sydney Hitzelberger said.

“I really enjoyed this opportunity to coach the boys because of how fun the practices were and how we were able to bring it to the court. Everyone showed up with all smiles and were super excited to play, which was great,” Senior coach Olivia Precord said.

The first set began, and the seniors jumped out to an early start, scoring three points to every one point scored by the juniors. The scores early on were 3-1, 6-2, and 9-3, and the seniors kept the momentum rolling after Caleb McEwen hit the ball right onto Conner Cameron.

The seniors ran away with the rest of the game as the juniors had no answer for Alpena’s powerful front row.

The final score of the first match was 25-13.

Alpena’s seniors got off to a similar start in the second set as it did in the first.

A 5-2 lead held early on, but the juniors started to fight the score back to 8-8, tying up the match.

Eventually, the senior class realized its mistakes and capitalized on juniors’ inability to dig the ball off the Senior’s kills. Myles Williams and Anthony Thompson were incredible at setting up Bryce Moe, Finn Williams, Tucker Bright, and McEwen all day.

This ability pushed the senior Class of 2024 past the junior Class of 2025 by a final of 25-16.

Although the seniors had just swept the juniors 2-0 in the best-of-three series, both sides agreed to one final game just for fun.

In this match, the junior class got off to a hot start, and with a game only going to 15 points, early momentum was vital.

A 7-2 lead was taken by the juniors, and in no time, they extended that lead even further until they completed the 15-10 win.

“It is obviously disappointing to be unable to take home the win, but I’m super proud of how we played as a team. We showed a lot of promise in the final match, and I think we know exactly what needs to be done next year,” Junior coach Reaghan Fitzpatrick said.