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FAIRBANKS — Eielson, which head coach Shane McAfee said looked flat in warm-ups, earned their first win of the season by pulling out a 19-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-13 victory over the North Pole Patriots in Tuesday night’s nonconference high school volleyball match on Eielson Air Force Base.

“I told the girls that in warmups, I felt they were flat and they needed to get a little enthusiasm going,’’ McAfee said in a telephone interview.

Two strong points for the Ravens, now 1-2 overall, were passing and serving, as Rebecca Warren finished perfectly at 13-for-13 with two aces. Aubrey Vetter, who transferred from North Pole, went 19-for-22 with four aces and Meghan Bussa had four aces among her 13-for-16 serving.

Christa Czjaka, who didn’t play in last weekend’s season-opening Aurora Conference losses at Valdez because of illness, led Eielson on Tuesday with six kills. Vetter provided four kills and Erin Hursh contributed three.

McAfee said that after the second-game loss, he told his team that it “was ridiculous for us to open at home and play this poorly.’’

“I told them, too, that we’re a much better team and we can be competitive,’’ he said. “They dug down and they played better.’’

North Pole (1-3) was sparked by the front row play of middle hitter Mackenzie Foran, who delivered match-highs of nine blocks and eight kills.

Allyce Eide had seven kills and Michelle Alderdice six for the Patriots, whom head coach Victoria Kilgore said was hampered by inexperience and unforced errors on Tuesday.

“We lack real game experience and we’re not a big height team,’’ said Kilgore, “and that poses some difficulty and challenges when it comes to hitting. We don’t have any hitters who can put the ball away when we need them to put the ball away.’’

North Pole has only four players with varsity experience.

“We made a lot of unforced errors at very critical moments,’’ Kilgore said.

North Pole has some extra time to fine-tune its game because the Patriots don’t play again until a Mid Alaska Conference match at Lathrop at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 12

Wolfpack sweep

West Valley served up a sweep against the Hutchison Hawks on Tuesday night. West Valley had six players with perfect serving nights in posting a 25-5, 25-5, 25-6 triumph over the Hutchison Hawks in a nonconference match.

“We had a strong serving night and they had a hard time getting serves back over the net,” said West Valley coach Dave Cox.

Michaela Hale led the way for the Wolfpack with a 26-for-26 effort at the service line. Samantha Wolters was a perfect 18-for-18 and Fabienne Clerc went 9-for-9. Danielle Meeks, Kelsey Meeks and Annie Vohden also were perfect from the back line. Ashley Jackovich was 12-for-14.

Wolters led the offense with six kills, followed by Jackovich with five, Carol Renfro with four and Hale with three.

Jenna Slater and Renfro were the top blockers with five and four, respectively.

West Valley’s next match is Sept. 9 at Delta Junction.

Patriots netters rally

Kelsea Hewitt and Christin Davis swept Monroe Catholic’s girls doubles of Victoria Martinez and Kelsey Scott 6-3, 6-3, lifting North Pole to a 4-3 victory in the Mid Alaska Conference high school tennis dual meet at the Alaska Club South on Tuesday.

“It was a close match,’’ Monroe head coach Bobby Trujillo said in a telephone interview. “Our girls had the right positions but their racquet placement was not there. Our girls played exceptionally well, there were long rallies and 3-6, 3-6 didn’t really tell the outcome of the game.’’

The Patriots also won in the No. 2 singles matches, as Phillip Martinez downing Dan Bunten 6-2, 6-3 in the boys duel and Kayla Arthofer captured a 6-0, 6-1 decision over Megan Jones in the girls contest. North Pole’s mixed doubles of Ryan Smith and Katie Callahan pulled out a 6-1, 3-6, 7-3 victory against Jim Winfree and Cassie Ringstad.

Monroe’s Eric Ringstad won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, over Adam Wurster in the boys No. 1 singles match, and his teammate, Eilish Saunders, took the girls No. 1 victory with 6-1, 6-4 decision over Laurie Geyer.

Monroe faces West Valley at 3:15 p.m. today at the Dan Ramras Community Courts and North Pole plays host to Lathrop at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Contact the Daily News-Miner sports department at 459-7581.