Kenai Central volleyball topples Nikiski

The visiting Kenai Central volleyball team defeated Nikiski 24-26, 25-16, 25-16 and 25-19 on Tuesday in Southcentral Conference action.

The Kardinals move to 9-0 in the league and 12-0 in nontournament play, locking up the top seed in the Southern Division at the conference tournament. Kenai has won the last three Southcentral titles. The Bulldogs fall to 7-2 in the league and 8-3 in nontournament play.

Kenai head coach Tracie Beck said she was happy with the way her team responded to losing the first game on the road. The Kardinals were able to make the comeback despite some team members suffering from a cough.

“Oh, you heard the choir?” Beck said, referring to the coughs on Kenai’s side of the net. “I was super happy they took care of business.”

The Bulldogs were behind for nearly all of the first game, but came back to tie it at 23. Ashlynne Playle then had a pair of kills to finish off the 26-24 win.

“That was one of the four games that we definitely serve-received really well,” Nikiski head coach Stacey Segura said. “We were passing really well and focusing on setting up the offense where there were mismatches.”

Kenai’s targeted, tough serving made it tougher for Nikiski to set up the offense the rest of the night. Ellsi Miller, with six aces, led the effort.

Beck said Miller has a serve with a lot of movement on it.

“Ellsi just stood back there, calm and collected, and put the ball in play and stuck to the plan,” Beck said. “She did awesome.”

Miller had nice serving runs in each of the last three games, including a spurt to get the Kards a 17-14 lead in Game 2.

“Serve-receive was a struggle tonight,” Segura said. “That’s what we expected from Kenai. They’ve got good servers, so it’s something we need to work on.

“It’s just a discipline issue. It’s not that they can’t do it. It’s just a discipline issue on form and reacting to it.”

Beck said setter Kate Wisnewski, who had 46 assists, 22 digs and two aces, did a great job running the offense for Kenai when the passes were on, and even when they were not.

“She was making something out of nothing if our passing wasn’t there, then our passing picked up and we adjusted,” Beck said. “Then it was a little easier on her.”

Avia Miller paced Kenai with 12 kills. Starting with a kill to get the Kards to 18-15 in Game 2, Miller had two other kills and a stuff block to close out that game.

Ellsi Miller went on another service run in Game 3, giving the Kardinals a 22-11 lead with an ace. Avia Miller finished off that game with a pair of kills.

In the fourth game, Nikiski had a 16-14 lead before Ellsi Miller served the Kards to a 19-16 advantage. The Bulldogs would not get within two points of the Kardinals the rest of the game.

Sophie Tapley added 10 kills for the Kardinals, while Stella Selanoff had six. Brynnen Hansen had 27 digs, with Selanoff adding 21. Avia Miller and Tapley each had two blocks, while Avia Miller also added two aces.

Beck said Segura went with a different lineup Tuesday and the Kenai coach was proud of the way her team adjusted. Beck also liked the way the defense responded to Nikiski’s tall, powerful hitters.

“The first step in our defense is our block,” she said. “It was a little bit inconsistent, for sure, today. But I was proud of our block and getting hands on the ball at critical times.”

Segura said her team has to find a way to mount more attacks on Kenai. She said just lobbing the ball over the net to the Kards is dangerous.

“You don’t want to just send free balls over there, because they’re coming right back at you with another attack,” she said. “Anytime there’s a free ball, there’s an opportunity to run an attack.”

Segura also said the Bulldogs had a few mental errors that are not costly against most teams, but cost crucial points against the Kardinals.

“It starts with practice, and we’ve got two weeks left in the season to get it right, and I think we will,” Segura said. “The last two years, going into regions with these girls, they really turn it up those last two weeks to try and close the gap.”

Segura said Alexa Iyatunguk had a great match, using smart, clutch hitting to get 10 kills. Playle had 11 kills and four blocks, while Mandee Roofe had nine kills and seven blocks.

Avery Ellis had 19 assists, while Milly Hornung had 10 assists and three aces.

Evelyn Reichert led with 19 digs, while Ellis had 18 digs and Kailey Stynsberg had 16 digs.

Both Kenai and Nikiski play at the Dimond-Service Tournament in Anchorage on Friday and Saturday.