The Soldotna volleyball team was swept by Dimond on Thursday in the opening round of the Class 4A state volleyball tournament at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
Dimond won 25-17, 25-7 and 25-17. Soldotna coach Sheila Kupferschmid said the Lynx have a lot of talent and it showed.
“They made us look like we didn’t play very well,” Kupferschmid said. “It wasn’t our best match.
“I’m hopeful our kids can come out and execute better than we did today.”
The Stars face Kodiak at 1 p.m. today, with the possibility of coming through the second-chance bracket for a state title.
The Northern Lights Conference champion Bears were undefeated in the league this year. SoHi did notch a victory over Kodiak at the Dimond-Service tournament when the Bears were missing a few key players. Kodiak swept SoHi at the NLC tourney Friday.
“I’d like to end the season with a match in which we really competed,” Kupferschmid said.
Sylvia Tuisaula paced Soldotna with eight kills, while Judah Aley had five kills, Lindsey Wong had four kills and Drewe Zeek had two kills. Kearstin Yarnes had 15 assists.
Shaylynn Zener paced the Stars with eight points, while Aley had three, Wong had three and Tuisaula had two.
Wong and Tuisaula were named to the tournament’s good sport team, while Wong was the player of the match for SoHi.
Valdez 3, Homer 0
In the Class 3A tournament, also being played at the Alaska Airlines Center, the Buccaneers defeated the Mariners in three sets with scores of 25-16, 25-14 and 25-19.
Homer will face Kotzebue in the second-chance bracket, starting 1 p.m. Friday.
Homer coach Pam Rugloski had no answer at first as to why the Mariners failed to win a game, but ultimately pointed to errors as the downfall.
“It felt like we played to the bottom end level of our ability,” Rugloski said. “And it started with errors.”
Paige Snyder and Mary Hana Bowe led the Mariners attack with four kills each, and Bowe added eight digs as well. Also, PK Woo notched three service aces, Malina Fellows had three kills and six digs, McKi Needham had six digs and Izabelle Hagge recorded nine digs and 16 passes for points. Needham was also awarded player of the game for Homer.
If Homer wishes to fight back to Saturday’s championship match, they will have to rack up four straight wins to do so, starting with Kotzebue.
“It’s completely doable, if we so choose,” Rugloski said. “We are a well-conditioned team, but it’s all mental.”
