Prep volleyball: Hawks make history

HOUSTON - The Houston High School volleyball squad made history Saturday afternoon.

A 3-2 (17-25, 18-25, 25-23, 30-28, 15-11) win over the North Pole Patriots marked the Hawks’ first win as a member of the 4A Mid-Alaska Conference.

“I’m really pleased,” Houston head coach Greg Gaither said. “They played a really good team game.”

This is Houston’s first season at the 4A level. The Hawks had been in the 3A Southcentral Conference.

In Friday, in their conference debut, Houston suffered a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-19) loss to North Pole.

Gaither said Houston’s serving was a key to the win.

“We served a lot better on Saturday than on Friday,” Gaither said. “I think that’s really what made a difference for us.”

Gaither also noted several individual performances in the win, such as the passing of libero Amy Orth, the hitting of Kelsey Thamm and the all-around effort of Jen Mason.

Other standouts include Ariel Katzenberger, who supplied the team with timely hitting, and Kacey Newman, who served eight balls in a row twice in the win, Gaither said.

— Jeremiah Bartz