Warriors power past Knights to win five-game match

WASILLA — For much of the decade, the local prep volleyball powers have resided on the right side of the Mat-Su Valley.

But if Wasilla’s play on Tuesday is any indication, those teams may just need to look to their left.

With a fast start and a strong finish, Wasilla worked its way to a 3-2 (25-16, 26-28, 19-25, 25-18, 15-10) win over the Colony Knights at Wasilla High School.

“It’s definitely an awesome feeling. We haven’t beat them in a while,” Wasilla senior Kaitlin Pevan said of her team, which recorded its first regular season win over the rival Knights since October of 2002. “We’ve just been working really hard, working our butts off and it’s been paying off.”

Sophomore Sariah Tuisaula and junior Aryn Crane combined for four kills during a match-sealing 5-2 run late during the fifth game. Tuisaula led the Warriors with a match-high 25 kills and Crane added 14. But while Wasilla’s powerful hitters stood out, the Warriors set themselves apart behind the service line.

Wasilla recorded 26 aces in the game, and collected at least two consecutive aces eight different times in the match.

Tuisaula served consecutive aces in the first and second games. Pevan had three straight aces in the fourth game. Junior Becca Newcomb recorded back-to-back aces midway through the fifth game. Senior Carlee Naczi and two straight aces in the first game and three straight in the second. Crane followed back-to-back aces in the first game with four consecutive aces in game three.

“That’s one of the main thing she stresses,” Pevan said of Wasilla first-year head coach Claudia Farias Pinard. “We work on serves every day in practice.”

Crane led the Warriors with 10 aces. Naczi finished with seven aces.

“The hits, the serves, everything worked out really well today,” Farias Pinard said. “We worked as a team.”

Pevan’s aces came, arguably, at the most crucial time for the Warriors. Down by one game in the match and the score tied at 4-4 in the fourth game, Pevan served seven straight points to five Wasilla the 11-7 lead.

Following that run, the Warriors led by at least three points for the remainder of the game.

“They played very well, extremely well,” Colony head coach Amy Carter said. “Everything (about Wasilla) is better. Their hitting is better. Their passing is better.”

After Wasilla stormed to a 25-16 during the first game of the match, Colony used a late push to score a 28-26 win during the second game. The Knights trailed 24-21 during the second, but ended the game with a 7-2 run.

“We had that game in our hand, but we let it go,” Farias Pinard said. “But the good thing about my team, they’ve been working hard and they took it. They felt they earned it.”

The Warriors, who have advanced to the state tournament just once since winning the 4A state title in 2001, improved to 3-2 in Northern Lights Conference play with the win. Colony, the defending conference champions and a state tournament team in each of the last six years, is now 1-1 in the NLC.

Senior Sierra Hodgson led the Knights with 17 kills, 18 digs and four aces. Senior Brittany Brown added 16 kills and two aces.

Palmer 3, Houston 0

HOUSTON — The Palmer Moose scored a 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-16) win over the Houston Hawks at Houston High School on Tuesday.

Mallory Manier led the Moose with seven kills and 11 assists. Danielle Pempek recorded seven aces. Chantel Grover posted a team-high seven digs.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.