CHS senior set to be a Seawolf

PALMER — Early in her prep volleyball career, Siobhan Johansen didn’t have an immediate desire to play beyond the high school level. But as Johansen grew as a player, so did her aspirations of becoming a collegiate athlete.

And now the Colony senior is set to be a Seawolf.

On Monday — surrounded by her coaches, teammates, friends and family — the Colony senior setter signed a National Letter of Intent to play volleyball at the University of Alaska Anchorage next fall.

“At first I didn’t want to start playing college,” Johansen said. “I just wanted to go to college, maybe play club. And then in my sophomore year, I started thinking playing in college would be fun.”

It won’t be just fun for the three-year varsity starter. Playing with the Division II Seawolves will help her pay for school too. Johansen will receive a scholarship package to play for the Seawolves, a squad that finished 23-8 overall in 2009 and 14-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Johansen said UAA was the only school she considered. During the summer, Johansen participated in a setters camp at UAA, where she caught the eyes of Seawolf coaches.

“I think it will be a lot of fun to play for them. They have amazing coaches,” Johansen said.

Johansen may have the chance to crack the lineup early in her career. The Seawolves lost senior setter Calli Scott, who finished with 1,202 of her team’s 1,371 assists in 2009. No other player on the UAA roster had more than 63 assists during the season.

“I think I have a really good chance of playing next year as a freshman,” Johansen said.

Johansen excelled at the setter position during her time with the Knights. As a senior, the captain helped lead the Knights to a runner-up finish in both the Northern Lights Conference and 4A state championship tournaments. She was named the most valuable player of the NLC North and the best setter at the state tournament.

Colony head coach Amy Carter said many of Johansen’s attributes set her apart from the average player.

“She has fantastic hands. I can probably count on one hand the number of times she didn’t get her hands in the right place,” Carter said. “And those (balls) were way out. No one would ever get those. She’s quick. She’s also smart.”

Johansen played in the NLC title match during her final three years with the Knights. As a junior, Johansen earned second-team All-NLC honors and helped the Knights win the conference crown. Carter said she saw Johansen evolve during her varsity career.

“It was fun to watch her for three years, get that volleyball game down and go from that scared little sophomore to a very confident senior that controlled the game,” Carter said.

Johansen said she moved into the setter position as a seventh-grader and has been playing there ever since. Johansen said she likes how involved the setter is during every play.

“You always get the ball. You always know the second touch is going to be yours,” Johansen said. “thinking about who you’re going to set to, the blocking combinations, the defense on the other side.”

Johansen said she likes the idea of playing college volleyball just a short distance away from her home.

“I’m really excited to be able to play at UAA, where my parents can come watch me,” Johansen said. “The Colony team can come and watch me too. That’s pretty exciting.”

She’s already had the opportunity to work with her new teammates.

“I went to go practice with them a couple of weeks ago. It was really fun,” Johansen said. “They’re going to be a fun group of girls to play with.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.