Knights, Warriors open prep volleyball season with victories

PALMER — The Colony Knights got a sneak peak at a Northern Lights Conference rival Thursday night at Colony High School.

The Knights opened the season with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-13) nonconference win over a Soldotna Stars squad Colony will see twice during the NLC regular season.

“SoHi played a good match, they play great defense and serve well,” Colony head coach Amy Carter said.

Senior Eve Stephens, the 2016 NLC Player of the Year, used 11 kills and three blocks to help the defending conference champion Knights open the year with a win. Isabel List added eight kills and Gabby Wakaliuk chipped in seven.

“When we had good ball control we were able to effectively run our offense,” Carter said.

Carter said, overall, the ball control was better than what she saw from the Knights during the annual Palmer Jamboree preseason event. The Knights finished first in the jamboree.

List also chipped in 17 assists for the Knights. Emily Link led the team with six aces. Haylee Duguid had six digs.

Soldotna used a late push to try to force a fourth set during the loss to Colony. Stephens knocked down consecutive kills to give the Knights a 23-17 lead. But Kodi McGillivray capped a four-point run with the kill to pull the Stars back within reach.

Shaylynn Zener pulled the Stars within a point late, but Stephens cemented the win for the Knights with a final kill.

McGillivray led the Stars with eight kills in the match. Aliann Schmidt added seven kills and three blocks. Zener finished with four digs.

Soldotna head coach Shelia Kupfershmid said the Stars have spent their preseason working to fill the void left by losses from the 2016 starting lineup.

“I like what I saw tonight,” Kupfershmid said after the loss. “We’ve got some youth. We’re missing some starters from last year. We’re having to mix some kids around to different positions. It’ll take a little bit.”

Warriors open with win

The Wasilla Warriors opened their season with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-23) nonconference victory over Anchorage Christian School Tuesday night at Wasilla High School.

Leanna Malak led Wasilla with seven kills in the win. Mackenzie Cizek and Cheyenne Green collected 10 digs each. Kaitlyn Cook finished with 22 assists.

Thursday, defending 4A state champion Dimond beat the Warriors 3-1 (25-5, 25-21, 22-25, 25-14).

Tristan Merchant collected a team-best 18 digs for the Warriors. Aleks Kvalheim had nine kills. Green added six kills and eight digs.

Wolfpack edge Moose

West Valley edged Palmer 3-2 (25-12, 18-25, 25-16, 23-25, 16-14) in a nonconference contest Thursday night at Palmer High School.

Mystery Showalter led Palmer with 21 digs. Gina Bodnar and Kelsey Giese collected 10 digs each. Hannah Decker and Kristen Beames had eight kills each.

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