Warriors win third straight region volleyball title

Wasilla earned its third straight region volleyball title, but the Soldotna Stars didn’t make it easy for the Warriors.

The defending 4A state champions earned a 3-1 (25-14, 23-25, 25-13, 26-24) win over the Stars during the Northern Lights Conference Championships title match Saturday afternoon at Colony High School.

“They’re a great team. They have some great hitters, great defenders. And they are greatly coached,” Wasilla head coach Katie Oxspring said of the Stars and SoHi head coach Luke Baumer. “He’s super knowledgeable. He watches our team and can pick out our weaknesses.”

Wasilla needed to climb out of an eight-point hole in the decisive set. Baumer’s Stars used an early run to build a 13-5 lead in the fourth game.

“It’s one point at a time,” Oxsping said. “Volleyball can turn around so quickly. It’s what I love and hate about the sport. You’re up by 10, and then all of the sudden you’re tied.”

The Warriors used a six-point run to cut SoHi’s lead to 19-17 in the fourth. Senior Layla Hays had two kills and a block during that stretch. Wasilla wasn’t able to tie the game until a Soldotna service error made it 22-22. A rocket across the net launched by the arm of senior Alli Devine gave Wasilla the 23-22 advantage. Mia Caldwell and Ki Schachle also combined for a key block late. Schachle used a kill after a long volley, for another crucial point that helped clinch the game and match.

“Reminding them to do the basic things,” Oxspring said of the message to her players in those situations. “And make sure we’re not erroring them to their win. If they’re going to beat us, they need to earn every single point.”

Oxspring said her senior class played a pivotal role during Wasilla’s journey to the three-peat.

“All of our seniors really stepped up,” she said. “They know what to do in these situations. They’ve been here before.”

Hays led the Warriors with 16 kills and eight total blocks in the win. Devine finished with a dozen kills and 17 digs. Mylee Anderson collected 37 assists and seven digs. Kenadee Shelton had 14 digs, and Violet Schachle added 10.

Wasilla beat Colony 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-23) during the first day of the tournament. Hays finished with 19 kills and Devine had 15. Anderson had 40 assists and 14 digs.

The Warriors followed with a 3-1 win over Soldotna in the semifinals Friday night. Hays had 14 kills. Devine finished with nine kills and 10 digs. Shelton and Violet Schachle had a team-high 14 digs each. Allison Brewer added 13 kills.

The Stars played their way back into the championship final with a 3-2 win over Colony Saturday morning.

Wasilla and Soldotna were the top two seeds in the tournament. Fourth-seeded Colony opened the tourney with a victory over fifth-seeded Kodiak, and also beat third-seeded Palmer in an elimination match.

Palmer finished 1-2 in the tournament, grabbing its lone win against Kodiak.

Wasilla senior Alli Devine was named the NLC Player of the Year.

“She embodies everything being a teammate is,” Oxspring said of Devine. “She’s an awesome player. She works so hard. We talk a lot in our program about champions doing extra. She wants this.”

Baumer was named the NLC Coach of the Year.

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