INVADED

WASILLA — The South Anchorage Wolverines have become accustomed to sweeping opponents.

Heading into the 4A state tournament, the undefeated Wolverines had only dropped one set in two matches. South was perfect during the Cook Inlet Conference tournament, sweeping each of its three opponents en route to the CIC crown.

But on Thursday, the Wasilla Warriors were not going to let the Wolverines slip by with an easy sweep. South needed a 3-1 (25-19, 25-13, 24-26, 25-16) win over the Warriors during the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Volleyball Championships to move into a semifinal match with Mid-Alaska Conference champion West Valley.

“(We) did a great job, we fought all the way to the end,” Wasilla head coach Claudia Farias Pinard said of her squad, which will face Valley rival Colony this morning at 10:45 in the consolation semifinals.

South won the first two games in the match, the first step in the Wolverines’ quest for their first state title since winning three straight from 2005-07. But Wasilla scored a tough 26-24 win in the third game to avoid being swept in front of a home crowd at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla.

“It was an exciting game,” Farias Pinard said. “They fought for it.”

Wasilla took an early 5-2 lead during that third game and never trailed. Powered by the hitting of junior Sariah Tuisaula and senior Aryn Crane, the Warriors snapped a 12-12 tie with a four-point run midway through the game and used another four-point run to take a 24-20 lead later in the third.

South narrowed the gap to 24-23 with a pair of Tara Brodie blocks, but Tuisaula sealed the game win for the Warriors. The junior put a hard shot between a pair of Wolverines to give the Warriors the 25-24 lead and capped the game with an ace.

Tuisaula led Wasilla with a match-high 29 kills.

“She had a great game,” Farias Pinard said. “The serving, the hitting.”

Crane added 19 kills in the loss and junior Haley Taylor added 10 kills and four blocks. Junior Jolee Fife chipped in five kills and three blocks.

Farias Pinard said her team was not intimidated by a South squad that had previously breezed through most of its matches.

“I’ve said, all the teams here, everybody has a chance,” Farias Pinard said.

Farias Pinard, who was named the Northern Lights Conference Coach of the Year last week, said her team will now fight for fourth place. The Warriors will need its fourth win of the season over Colony this morning to move into the tournament’s fourth-place match.

Wasilla beat Colony twice during the regular season and in the semifinals of the NLC tourney.

Palmer and Juneau-Douglas will play in the other consolation semifinal at 9 a.m.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com. Follow him at Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.