Prep volleyball: Skyview keeps Palmer out of the state tourney

KENAI — Palmer wasn’t going down without a fight.

Neither was Missy Massey.

The Skyview senior recorded the Panthers’ final four points, including the last one on a back-and-forth rally featuring a number of diving digs and one-handed lunges, in propelling her team to its first state tournament berth since the 2002-03 season with a three-game sweep of the Moose in the third-place game of the Northern Lights Conference volleyball tournament Saturday at Kenai Central.

“Missy Massey was determined,” Panthers coach Sheila Kupferschmid said following her team’s dominant 25-10, 25-16, 26-24 disposal of defending champion Palmer. “She willed her team to win.”

Massey’s final kill, a perfectly placed tap for her 15th of the game, capped a furious final point that quelled Palmer’s streak of 10 consecutive state tournament appearances.

“It’s indescribable,” Massey said, adding the team went 14-0 during the her sophomore year yet didn’t advance to state. “We’ve been working so hard for this. Me and Brittany (Meyer) and Jessie (Bilderback) and Maddie (Abbott), we’ve all been working for four years just for this moment and it’s awesome to be able to finally go.

The Panthers’ victory was especially sweet considering it came on the heels of their five-game win over crosstown rival Soldotna earlier in the day, a triumph that erased any lingering memories of the Stars two victories over Skyview this year, the first in four games and the second going all five.

Despite going down 2-1, the Stars also battled ’til the end, getting 40 assists from Emily Rohloff, 20 digs and 19 kills from Shana Powell, 18 digs from Jessi Stenga, 16 digs and 16 kills from Kaitlyn Wehrli and 15 blocks from Chelsea Wilbanks, before falling in five.

“I think SoHi was a lot quicker, and I believe, a better team than Palmer. I think that prepared us mentally,” Kupferschmid said of their 25-11, 24-26, 25-22, 18-25, 15-10 win over the Stars. “The game was a little bit slower and I think that gave the kids confidence. I think had a lot to do with it.”

Before the Palmer game, though, Kupferschmid wasn’t sure how her team would respond after its breakthrough win.

“I was concerned because you can come out flat,” she said. “So it worked the other way … It turned the other way and they just went on with it.”

Did they ever.

Breezing through the first two games after jumping out to leads of 12-1 and 18-11, respectively, second-seeded Skyview encountered the team that swept top-seeded Soldotna in Thursday’s opening round.

Behind the solid serving of Jordan Venzke and Rashayne Zimmer, the Moose exploded to a 7-1 lead, the final point coming on a powerful kill to the back corner by senior Mikaela Bolling, who picked up 14 digs.

But the Panthers responded with a 7-3 run, Jaxon Hill (nine kills), Abbott (six kills) and Jaci Lamborn all recording one kill apiece, in trimming the deficit to two.

“Big leads are never safe,” said Palmer coach Steve Reynolds. “People always nibble away at them.”

The Panthers didn’t nibble. They took a massive bite.

Trading points to a 17-14 Moose edge, Skyview finally knotted the game on a Hill kill and a pair of unforced errors by Palmer. One of Meyer’s six kills helped maintain a tie at 18-all and with the score then deadlocked at 22, the fifth of six ties in the game, the Panthers turned to Massey.

And the Southern Division MVP delivered.

A tap over and cross-court spike put her team within one point of a trip to Anchorage before the seniors’ next two shots were blocked and landed out of bounds, respectively.

So close to victory, she wasn’t about to be denied.

“I just knew I had to get the next one and I couldn’t let my team down,” she said. “I just knew I had to score and my team counted on me and I had to come through on them.”

Massey’s 14th kill of the game, a lightly placed tip, staked Skyview to a 25-24 edge and she then finished off the Moose, but not without a courageous fight, with another tap down the left line that set off a wild celebration under the net as fans rushed the floor.

“We knew from the beginning that we could beat them and it was never a doubt in our minds that they would take that set from us so we just kept pushing,” she said of falling behind in the third game.

Kupferschmid credited her hitters’ intelligence with the game on the line.

“It was wide open for her down the line. She’s got a lot of experience and she’s played the game a lot. Go to her. She’s the go-to person,” she said. “She deserves it. She’s the most experienced, she knows the court and she brought it home for us and I am happy for Missy Massey. This is just a climax for her high-school career.”

Well, almost.

The Panthers still have some business to attend to beginning Thursday at West High in Anchorage.

“Our region is one of the hardest regions and we made it through our region, so we should do very well at state hopefully,” Massey said. “All the teams that go to state from our region will.”

The fourth-seeded Moose, who earned a 25-22, 25-23, 25-19 win over Wasilla earlier in the day, will lose five seniors to graduation, but should be back and fighting for another state berth next season.

“As with all those runs, they all come to an end at some point,” Reynolds said. “I’m not terribly disappointed. Not that I expect it or anything, but you can’t continually do those things. … We’re known for playing well at the end of the season and that kind of thing, but luck runs out eventually.”

Colony’s certainly hasn’t.

The Knights, runners-up at state last season, cruised through the regular season with a 10-0 conference mark before capturing the NLC tourney crown Saturday night with a four-game win over Kodiak (25-19, 8-25, 25-16, 25-23) after handling the Panthers in three on Friday.

And now, after a four-year wait, Skyview has earned the chance to join them.

“It is hard to get to state,” Kupferschmid said. “There is a lot of teams that play well. SoHi, they could have been in our spot.

“I’m just thrilled that they can see that putting that effort together and coming together and working at a common goal and the result of it.”

Matthew Carroll can be reached at matthew.carroll@peninsulaclarion.com.

Northern Lights Conference volleyball tournament

First team

Allie Grazulis, Northern Division MVP, Colony; Missy Massey, Southern Division MVP, Skyview; Linzee Burcham, Kodiak; Jenna Johnson, Wasilla; Mikaela Bolling, Palmer; Shana Powell, Soldotna; Maureen Sabado, Kodiak; Lindsay Layland, Homer; Jackie Hamann, Colony; Kara Larson, Colony; Jessi Stenga, Soldotna; Jessie Bilderback, Skyview.

Second team

Mariah Huhndorf, Kenai; Brittany Meyer, Skyview; Kaitlyn Wehrli, Soldotna; Siobhan Johansen, Colony; Hannah Delaney, Kenai; Kelsie Cline, Wasilla; Jill Temple, Homer; Jordan Venzke, Palmer; Rashayne Zimmer, Palmer; Emily Rohloff, Soldotna; Rachel Norton, Kodiak.

Good sport team

Megan Hardy, Soldotna; Brittany Meyer, Skyview; Britt Kiser, Kenai; Aryn Crane, Wasilla; Emily Garner, Kodiak; Piper Daugharty, Homer; Nicole Davis, Colony; Jordan Venzke, Palmer.

Coach of the year — Amy Carter, Colony.