Knights ride momentum to NLC title

WASILLA — Heading into the championship game, the Colony Knights were perfect.

Not only had Colony won its first three matches of the tournament, the Knights had posted the sweep each time. Colony had won nine straight games. And Colony carried that streak into the title match, winning the first two games.

And then all of the sudden, here came the Palmer Moose.

Palmer rallied to force a fifth game, but Colony weathered the storm and held on to grab a thrilling 3-2 (25-20, 25-21, 10-25, 18-25, 16-14) victory over the Moose in the final match of the Northern Lights Conference Championships volleyball tournament Saturday afternoon at Wasilla High School.

“It’s absolutely the proudest of any time I’ve ever coached,” Colony head coach Amy Carter said after Colony won its first NLC title since 2008.

After taking the first two sets of Saturday’s match, Colony watched as the Moose steadily chipped away.

“We had to forget everything that happened in those last two games, and play our game,” Colony senior setter Shiann Bontrager said of her team’s mindset heading into the fifth game.

Colony jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the fifth, but once again, Palmer made things interesting. The Moose used a 13-6 run to help force a 14-14 tie late in the match.

“We had to key into our confidence right there. When we get into those lulls, we had to find that confidence,” Bontrager said.

That’s the confidence that helped propel Colony from the No. 4 seed entering the tournament to the region title, Bontrager said.

“This is what we wanted to do the whole season. We knew we could do this,” Bontrager said. “We had struggled with confidence at the beginning, and now we can realized we can do great things.”

Colony started its tournament with a pair of 3-0 wins on the first day of the championships. After besting Kenai Central 3-0, Colony knocked off Wasilla, the top seed and host of the tourney. On Friday, the Knights swept second-seeded Palmer in the semifinals, the first of two meetings in the tournament.

Bontrager said it all started with getting momentum in that win over Kenai.

“We really wanted to come in and win that (match), and we just went game to game,” Bontrager said. “Everyone came out to play, and everyone gave us a really good battle. All of these teams are super good.”

Carter said she’s seen this type of ability in her team throughout the season, and this weekend, she watched the confidence of her players continue to grow.

“They came in and started believing in themselves,” Carter said.

The Knights also rode the hitting of Eve Stephens throughout the tourney.

“Eve Stephens is our best hitter, I’d say, and we just feed her that ball,” Bontrager said of the junior, was named Co-NLC MVP following the tournament. “She’s a really influential leader. She leads by (her) play.”

Stephens hammered 18 kills and collected nine blocks during the title match. Bontrager, Ella Smith and Lily Birch added seven kills each. Bontrager also chipped in 32 assists. Mikara Klawitter led the Knights with nine digs.

Palmer used big victories of its own to compete in its first NLC title match since winning it all in 2014. Like Colony, Palmer also went 2-0 on Thursday. The Moose swept the Bears, and followed with an upset of second-seeded Soldotna. After falling to Colony in the semifinals Friday, Palmer bounced back with a big 3-2 victory over rival Wasilla Saturday morning.

“Today felt like one long 10-set match,” Palmer head coach Jayme DeHart said of playing back-to-back five-game thrillers against her program’s two biggest rivals. “I think we had about 60 minutes between the last point of our Wasilla game and the first point of the Colony game.”

DeHart said she felt the short break for the Moose between matches factored into the outcome of the first two games of the best-of-5 match against the Knights.

“The long fifth-set finish against Wasilla definitely affected us early against Colony,” DeHart said. “Colony came out fired up, and took advantage.”

DeHart said she’s proud of the way her team reacted to the adversity.

“It was a crazy long day, and it’s great to have a team out there who just won’t quit,” DeHart said.

Kennedy Bryan led the Moose with 20 kills and three aces against the Knights. Mallory Bradford finished with 13 kills, and Madi Ko added eight. Tiana Lee recorded 35 assists.

Earlier in the day, Bryan also enjoyed a 20-kill effort against Wasilla. Erika Spencer had 17 kills and 18 digs. Mystery Showalter led the Moose with 26 digs. Lee collected 50 assists.

The Knights, Moose and Warriors all qualified for the state tournament, which starts Thursday at the Alaska Airlines Center on UAA campus. For more on the state tournament, see the Wednesday edition of the Frontiersman.

Valley athlete, coach earn top honors

A pair of Valley products were each named a co-MVP during the NLC’s awards ceremony following the title match Saturday.

Colony junior Eve Stephens was named Co-MVP alongside Kenai Central senior Abby Beck. Wasilla mentor Josie Cannon was named Co-Coach of the Year, along with Kenai head coach Tracie Beck.

Stephens was one of a half-dozen Valley players to garner first-team all-conference honors. Wasilla’s Andraia Bella and Lindsey Cizek, Palmer’s Kennedy Bryan and Tiana Lee, and Colony’s Shiann Bontrager were also named first team.

Wasilla’s Frederica Freschi, Colony’s Mikara Klawitter, and Palmer’s Mystery Showalter, Erika Spencer, Mallory Bradford and Madi Ko were each named to the second team.

All-Northern Lights Conference

Player of the Year: Eve Stephens, Colony; Abby Beck, Kenai

Coach of the Year: Josie Cannon, Wasilla; Tracie Beck, Kenai

First team:

Andraia Bella, Wasilla; Drew Zeek, Soldotna; Kennedy Bryan, Palmer; Ryana Recustodio, Kodiak; Ituau Tuisaula, Soldotna; Lindsey Cizek, Wasilla; Shiann Bontrager, Colony; Tiana Lee, Palmer.

Second team:

Erika Spencer, Palmer; Callie Christianson, Soldotna; Madi Ko, Palmer; Sierra King, Kenai; Mallory Bradford, Palmer; Federica Freschi, Wasilla; Mystery Showalter, Palmer; Mikara Klawitter, Colony.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.