Skyview gets past Wasilla, earns date with Colony

All they wanted was a chance. It looks like they¹ll have more than that. The Skyview Panthers¹ four-game win over Wasilla in the opening round of the Northern Lights Conference volleyball tournament at Kenai Central High School on Thursday night earned them a date with the top-seeded Colony Knights, who placed second at state last year and romped through the conference with a 10-0 mark this season. "To me, it¹s like a David versus Goliath story in that Colony is one of the best three in the state with a bunch of seniors, experience and a 10-0 or 11-0 record now," Skyview coach Sheila Kupferschmid said following her team¹s 25-18, 25-14, 17-25, 25-17 win over the third-seeded Warriors. "They¹re going up against a giant this year in volleyball in Colony High School. Our little school of 400-some against a big-size school like that. ³We just want an opportunity." Thanks to solid net play from Missy Massey, Brittany Meyer, Maddie Abbott and Jaxon Hill, the Panthers earned that shot by becoming the lone squad from the Southern Division to emerge from the first-round after top-seeded Soldotna, third-seeded Homer and No. 4 Kenai all fell in straight sets. Nothing comes easy against Colony, though, as Skyview knows all too well following a sweep at the home of the Knights earlier this season. But the way the Panthers closed that match, falling 31-29 in the third and final game, provides a glimmer of hope for a team seeking its first trip to the state tournament since they placed fourth in the 2002-03 season. ³Any team¹s beatable,² Kupferschmid said of the Knights, who will take on Skyview at 7 p.m. today. ³They¹re very good. They¹re in the top three … in the state. But any team is beatable. Anything can happen.² Wasilla nearly proved that Thursday. Never leading in the first two games, the Warriors owned the third as senior Jenna Johnson drove home one of her team-high 17 kills for a 5-1 lead and Wasilla extended it to 10-2 on back-to-back kills from Sammy Becker (nine kills) and Rebecca Stella. The Panthers crept within two behind five solid serves from Massey, but the Warriors answered with a 10-3 run and Johnson¹s immediate kill off a block helped finish off the Panthers, who committed 15 unforced errors in the frame. ³The unforced errors will kill you,² Kupferschmid said. ³It¹s the team who controls the ball is the one that will one that will come on top. And we controlled it more tonight.² The fourth game was all Skyview, as three of Massey¹s game-high 19 kills and two of Hill¹s nine staked the Panthers to a 10-2 cushion. Five straight Skyview points from Meyer, who recorded 12 kills, and two from Abbott (nine kills) extended the lead to 19-11. But Wasilla wouldn¹t quit, running off five straight points in trimming the deficit to four, although two points were then deducted from the Warriors¹ score and one added to the Panthers because Wasilla was out of rotation for two turns before the officials noticed it. A kill by Hill and a bad return on a shot by Hill finished off the Skyview¹s win over a team it defeated in five games earlier in the season. ³That was a big break for us then the momentum just swung,² Kupferschmid said. ³I¹m thankful for the win.² The Warriors now have to fight their way back through the loser¹s bracket, something they¹re accustomed to as they lost in the first round last year and still wound up earning the third state tournament berth on the line. ³The first two (games) we were just in some kind of passing ruts. We weren¹t able to attack as much like we did the last two,² said Wasilla coach Anna Simons. ³Then they turned it around. We just weren¹t as consistent with our defense. ³We have to take the harder road but we know.² Skyview captured Game 1 with impenetrable net play and took the second game with solid serving. Jessie Bilderback ran off five straight strong serves, including a pair of aces, in giving her team a 5-0 lead to begin Game 2. Leading 11-9, Meyer unleashed nine straight, the final three put home by Abbott, and the Panthers owned a 19-9 edge before two kills from Hill put Skyview one game from victory. ³I thought Wasilla broke down a little bit. I think they helped us,² Kupferschmid explained. ³I thought, again, their serve-receive broke for us and we ran some points on them and I think that just gave our kids confidence and they kept fighting on defense. The connection was there from the pass, set and hit.²