Kenai Central won the Lady Grizzly Volleyball Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Anchorage.
The Kardinals, led by tournament offensive most valuable player Emma Beck, won the tourney’s top bracket — the Platinum Bracket — by defeating East 30-28 in the if-necessary game.
Earlier, Kenai had defeated Kodiak 20-13, 20-8 in the first round, then defeated Valdez 15-20, 20-5, 15-9, then defeated Colony 20-10, 20-13, then lost to East 20-16, 20-18 to set up the if-necessary game.
The tournament’s next bracket — the Gold Bracket — was loaded with the rest of the Kenai Peninsula’s teams. Nikiski won the bracket, while Soldotna was third, Seward was fourth and Homer tied for fifth.
Nikiski topped Sitka 20-16, 20-14, topped Soldotna 20-11, 20-13, lost to Sitka 20-12, 17-20, 21-19, then defeated Sitka 31-29 in the if-necessary game.
Soldotna defeated Seward 20-17, 18-20, 10-7 before losing to Nikiski, then losing to Sitka 20-14, 13-20, 8-6.
Seward defeated Homer 20-15, 15-20, 15-13 before losing to Soldotna, defeating Mt. Edgecumbe 15-20, 20-14, 12-11 and losing to Sitka 20-15, 11-20, 15-13.
Homer opened with the loss to Seward, then lost to Sitka 9-20, 20-16 and 15-10.
Friday pool play was used to seed the Saturday brackets.
Kenai and Soldotna both finished 6-2 in Pool A, while Homer was 3-5 in Pool A, and Nikiski and Seward were 4-4 in Pool B.
Kenai defeated Monroe 25-6, defeated Houston 25-15, lost to Valdez 26-24, lost to East 27-25, defeated Sitka 25-23, defeated Mountain City Christian Academy 25-13, defeated Soldotna 25-11 and defeated Homer 25-11.
In addition to losing to Kenai, Soldotna defeated Homer 25-16, defeated Sitka 25-22, defeated Monroe Catholic 25-19, defeated MCCA 25-16, defeated Houston 25-13, lost to East 25-12 and defeated Valdez 25-17.
In addition to losing to Kenai and Soldotna, Homer lost to East 25-10, lost to MCCA 25-19, defeated Sitka 25-19, defeated Houston 25-17, defeated Monroe 25-11 and lost to Valdez 25-23.
In Pool B, Nikiski defeated Grace Christian 25-19, defeated Eielson 25-9, lost to Palmer 25-23, defeated Seward 25-23, defeated Mt. Edgecumbe 25-18, lost to Bartlett 25-21, lost to Colony 25-16 and lost to Kodiak 25-19.
In addition to losing to Nikiski, Seward lost to Bartlett 25-17, lost to Kodiak 25-23, defeated Mt. Edgecumbe 25-15, defeated Grace 25-15, defeated Eielson 25-21, lost to Colony 25-23 and defeated Palmer 25-22.
In addition to Beck, Jaycie Castillo and Kate Wisnewski took all-tournament team honors for Kenai. Mandee Roofe, Alexa Iyatunguk and Kailey Stynsberg made the team for Nikiski, while Nicole Dickinson represented Soldotna, Regan Baker made it for Homer and Robin Cronin earned the honor for Seward.
