WILD WIN: Warriors edge rival in regular-season finale

WASILLA — As the Wasilla Warriors and Colony Knights walked back on the floor for the decisive fifth set, nobody seemed surprised.

“This is exactly what I thought it was going to be,” Wasilla head coach Katie Oxspring said after her team’s 3-2 (25, 23, 20-25, 21-25, 25-19, 15-12) win over rival Colony Friday night at Wasilla High School. “We have had a lot of matches that have gone to five sets like this.”

Kaitlyn Cook tucked a ball inside the sideline to give the Warriors a 6-4 lead in the final game, and Wasilla would never trail again.

“Stay out of serve-receive as best we can. That’s what we tried to do there,” Oxspring said.

Oxspring said experience has also been key for the Warriors.

“It’s really nice having a group of girls that have competed on a high level before,” Oxspring said. “We have a good group of seniors, a good group of girls in general.”

Oxspring said the Warriors have also been able to use their depth to their advantage.

“We have a really deep bench. We can send anyone on the bench in and have the confidence they’ll play at the same level,” Oxspring said.

Wasilla also finished the regular season 8-0 in Northern Lights Conference play, and enters the upcoming region tournament with the top seed.

“It’s not a goal we talked about, but it was something we were able to do,” Oxspring said. “I told my girls last week, no matter how tonight wins, we still have the region tournament.”

Oxspring said she is happy to see her finish the regular season undefeated in region play, but is more focused on how well they are playing entering regions.

“What I love about this group, not only are they good players and good competitors, but they are all leaders in their own way,” Oxspring said. “It’s really nice to have a group of people that want it as much as I do.”

Colony head coach Steve Reynolds said he is pleased with his team, regardless of outcome.

“I’m super happy with how we played tonight,” Reynolds said.

Like Oxspring, Reynolds said there’s tremendous parity in the NLC.

“People are all going give with each other,” Reynolds said.

Earlier in the week, Wasilla edged Palmer 3-2. Last week, Palmer slipped by Colony 3-2.

“It’s very close. It makes it exciting,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said he’s focused more on his team’s overall improvement, not the conference record entering regions.

“We’ve been working all season to get up to this level,” Reynolds said. “We started kind of rough. The team was getting used to a new coach, new style of things. There were struggles along the way as far as finding our way.”

Colony is hosting the 2018 NLC Championships, which begin Thursday at Colony High.

Wasilla 3, Palmer 2

Wasilla edged Palmer 3-2 (22-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-14, 15-11) Tuesday at Palmer High.

Deana McNutt led Palmer with 10 kills and four blocks.

Moose sweep Kodiak

Palmer scored a pair of wins at Kodiak over the weekend. The Moose beat the Bears 3-2 on both Friday and Saturday.

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