Knights cruise to quick sweep of host Kardinals in first round

KENAI — Colony redefined the term “rout” Thursday afternoon in a 54-minute victory over the host Kenai Central Kardinals in the opening round of the Northern Lights Conference Championships volleyball tournament.

How complete was Colony’s dominance?

In just three games, senior outside hitter Allie Grazulis racked up 20 kills and five blocks, while junior setter Siobhan Johansen posted an eye-popping 31 assists as the Knights rolled into the semifinals with a 25-10, 25-16, 25-8 victory.

“When everything is in sync, it’s easy to get into a rhythm,” Grazulis said following the match.

Grazulis opened the match on fire, ripping off seven kills and a service ace as the Knights took just 15 minutes to wrap up a 25-10 win in the opening game.

“She’s huge for us,” Colony coach Amy Carter said.

Though many of Grazulis’ kills were of the highlight reel variety — two ricocheted off the faces of Kardinal defenders — several of the senior’s winning shots came about due to crafty placement. On one point during the second game, she faked a spike before hitting the ball over the heads of Kenai’s back row, placing the ball directly on the back line.

“She’s athletically talented, but she’s also very smart,” Carter said. “It’s nice to have her.”

Grazulis didn’t do it alone. Fellow senior Kara Larson had 10 kills — eight of them in the third game — while senior libero Jackie Hamann was a defensive stalwart with 14 digs. Sierra Hodgson added nine digs for the Knights, which finished second in both the NLC and state tournaments last season.

Kenai actually held early leads in all three games before falling victim to Colony’s potent offensive attack. The Kardinals’ best game was the second, which Kenai led 9-8 before the Knigths ripped off six straight points to take command. Grazulis was a beast in the second, at one point knocking down three consecutive kills, all of them off passes from Johansen.

“When we’re passing well, we usually do something good,” Carter said.

Grazulis was quick to give credit to her teammates for setting up her monstrous smack-downs.

“I’m really lucky that we have a really good back row,” she said.

Undefeated Colony has now won 11 consecutive NLC matches after posting a perfect 10-0 record in conference play this season. The Knights have not lost a match to anyone in the state this season, and are looking to return to the state finals for the second year in a row.

But in order to do that, they must avoid any let-downs — a fate that hampered their chance at a conference crown last season in an upset loss to Palmer in the NLC tournament.

Carter said she’s been stressing the point that every team is dangerous come tourney time, and knows that the Knights still have plenty of work left to do.

“Regions is different than any other game of the season,” she said. “Every team comes ready to play, and you have to be ready for every game.”

For her part, Colony’s star hitter said she believes the Knights have the right attitude to avoid any miscues in this year’s tournament. In fact, she said she thinks her team has the potential to continue improving as the weekend wears on.

“We can always do better,” Grazulis said of the Knights, who will face Skyview in the semifinals today at 7 p.m. at KCHS.

For the rest of the teams in the Northern Lights Conference — and the state as a whole — that could be bad news. After seeing her team go down to the talented Knights, Kenai coach Stacia Rustad summed up what many teams around Alaska know about Colony.

“That,” Rustad said, “was scary.”