Kenai nips Nikiski to take 4th straight Southcentral title

The Kenai Central volleyball team won its fourth straight Southcentral Conference title by defeating Nikiski in five sets Saturday at Nikiski Middle-High School.

The scores were 25-16, 21-25, 20-25, 25-20 and 15-9 as Kenai wrapped up a perfect season in conference and in nontournament play.

The Kardinals also were undefeated in the pandemic season of 2020, when they were only allowed to play Kenai Peninsula competition, so head coach Tracie Beck is on quite a run.

Beck gave credit to all the coaches on her staff and to the players.

“I surely don’t do it by myself,” she said. “So I just can’t be more thankful for the people that are around me and the girls that keep showing up every day.”

Nikiski, which automatically qualified for state for the third straight year earlier Saturday by defeating Seward, and Kenai have seen a ton of each other this season.

The two squads split championship matches in early season tournaments, then the Kardinals took both conference matches in four games during the regular season.

In the semifinals of the conference tournament Friday, Kenai also won in five sets over the Bulldogs.

“It’s hard to play a team so many times and still be successful,” said Kenai setter Kate Wisnewski, who has been on varsity for four years and stepped into a starting role the last two. “Honestly, we played them so many times this year already, and we’re definitely going to see them at state.”

Nikiski head coach Stacey Segura said this is the best her team has played against Kenai. The coach said it’s a great way to head into state.

“I know this is important, but next weekend is super important,” Segura said. “The more we push them to the edge, the better.

“The girls definitely don’t have broken spirits about it. They’re actually pretty excited. They love the way they feel when they play that way.”

Before packed bleachers, the squads had the fans roaring the whole night with hard serving, deft serve-receiving, thundering kills and frantic saves on defense.

“That was so entertaining,” Segura said. “Everyone got their money’s worth.”

The biggest difference in the two teams came in Game 5, when Kenai was able to take thorough control Friday and Saturday.

Beck chalked the Game 5 performance up to the mentality of her players and the leadership of Wisnewski.

“We’re all together and we’re going to win this game,” Wisnewski said. “That’s what we all had in mind.”

Beck said it’s a great lesson to learn.

“They surely have fight and grit,” she said. “Those are things that I feel are life skills that you learn here. I don’t know how else you learn those skills.

“They can take them forward and go out into the world and not be afraid to work hard and dig deep.”

Segura said Kenai does have more experience than her team in those situations, but that the experience gap is closing all the time.

“It’s just a matter of choices that we’re making in that fifth set,” she said. “We just made some oddball choices, and that just comes with the pressure and just overthinking instead of having fun and actually playing.”

The Class 3A state tournament is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

Kenai opens play at 10 a.m. Thursday against Monroe Catholic, while Nikiski plays Valdez, which has appeared in the last three state finals, at 3:15 p.m. Thursday.

Both coaches swore off any talk of a Nikiski-Kenai final.

“We just keep showing up and working hard and learning a little bit,” Beck said. “We learn about some of the teams that are going to be there, because some of them we haven’t seen very often.

“But we’ve seen enough of Nikiski, for sure.”

Brynnen Hanson had 32 digs for Kenai, while Stella Selanoff had 30 and Sophie Tapley had 28.

Wisnewski had 43 assists, while Tapley had 17 kills, Avia Miller had 13 kills and Selanoff had 10 kills.

Both Avia Miller and Tapley had four blocks, while Sarah Baisden had three aces and Gracee Every had two aces.

For Nikiski, Kailey Stynsberg had 33 digs, while Avery Ellis had 29. Ellis also had 31 assists and four aces.

Ashlynne Playle had 21 kills, while Alexa Iyatunguk had 15. Mandee Roofe had nine blocks, while Blakeley Jorgensen had six.

Tapley was the MVP of the conference, with Wisnewski and Selanoff joining her on the first team. Stynsberg, Playle and Iyatunguk made first team for Nikiski.

Both coaches said it was nice for those players to get recognized, but added that doesn’t take away from others on the team.

“There’s no way we could be undefeated all year and not have more than three girls,” Beck said.

Segura said she’s proud of the volleyball the Bulldogs put on display despite being such a small school. In October enrollment numbers, Kenai was at 497, while Nikiski was at 160.

That goes for Seward, as well, which is at 172 students. A big five-set victory over Mountain City Christian Academy on Friday assured Seward of at least third place.

The victory also earned the Seahawks an at-large berth to state, the first state berth since 2021. Seward plays Barrow at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

“They fought for that,” head coach Jodi Kurtz said. “They deserved it. I know they wanted that bad.

“They knew what they had to lose if they didn’t win that game.”

Nikiski then defeated Seward on Saturday by scores of 25-18, 22-25, 25-19 and 25-12.

Stynsberg had 22 digs, while Ellis had 15 digs and 25 assists.

Playle had 19 kills, while Iyatunguk had nine and Roofe had five. Playle also had nine blocks, while Roofe had six and Jorgensen had four. Milly Hornung had five aces.

Kurtz said first-team all-conference players Jordan Hartman, Kyana Hutchinson and MiKinley Williams lead the team from the smaller school where it needs to go.

Kurtz said the Seahawks could have gone to Class 2A in volleyball this year but chose to stay up.

“I like that they play up,” she said. “The competition’s better and it makes them better.”

Southcentral Conference awards

MVP — Sophie Tapley, Kenai.

Coach of the Year — Serge Duchatellier, MCCA.

First team

Kate Wisnewski, Kenai; Jieaya Williams, MCCA; Kailey Stynsberg, Nikiski; Ashlynne Playle, Nikiski; Ruth Land, MCCA; Jordan Hartman, Seward; Stella Selanoff, Kenai; MiKinley Williams, Seward; Channing Lowney, Homer; Kyana Hutchinson, Seward; Alexa Iyatunguk, Nikiski; Becca Trowbridge, Homer; Emiliia Saenko, Grace.

Second team

Sophie Lentfer, Grace; Alexia Pike, Redington; Brooklyn Mocan, Redington; Brynnen Hanson, Kenai; Avia Miller, Kenai; Ashlyn McRoberts, Houston; Jenna Houck, MCCA; Kate Matthew, MCCA; Bella Russell, Houston; Ashlynn Warner, Redington; Keeli Johnson, Houston; Josie Evans-Grant, Grace; Gifty Friesen, MCCA; Avery Ellis, Nikiski; Ellsi Miller, Kenai.

Honorable mention

Jaden Helton, Grace; Ava Jagielski, Seward; McKaelyn Davidovics, Redington.

Good sport team

Kate Merriner, Grace; Charli Scully, Houston; Ashlynn Warner, Redington; Makena DesErmia, Seward; Gracie Miotke, Homer; Sarah Baisden, Kenai; Evelyn Reichert, Nikiski; JaiLynn Samuel, MCCA.