The Nikiski volleyball team tallied its third tournament title in as many weeks with a three-game sweep over Seward in Saturday’s North-South tournament in Houston.
The Bulldogs did not lose a single set all weekend, and defeated the Seahawks in the final with scores of 25-12, 26-24 and 25-20. The championship win follows up tournament titles in the Homer Jamboree and the Shayna Pritchard Memorial tournament in Nikiski.
“It was an awesome weekend, a very flattering weekend,” said Nikiski head coach Stacey Segura. “The girls played consistent all weekend.”
Nikiski setter Kaitlyn Johnson received tournament MVP honors, and joined Kelsey Clark on the all-tournament team.
Johnson notched 14 digs in the championship against Seward, along with seven assists and four aces. Clark had 24 digs, while Bethany Carstens notched seven kills. Emma Wik added seven assists and four service aces, and Kaycee Bostic had four kills.
Earlier in the day, Nikiski prevailed over Homer in a semifinal matchup 25-17 and 25-18, while the other semifinal saw Seward beat Houston to gain the final. The losses for Homer and Houston resulted in both teams taking third-place honors.
In the quarterfinal round, Nikiski dropped Redington 25-11 and 25-15, while Homer defeated Nome, Houston beat Anchorage Christian and Seward beat the Palmer JV.
Nikiski went a perfect 7-0 in Friday’s round-robin play. In single-game action, the Bulldogs beat Nome 15-11, Houston 15-0, Homer 15-13, ACS 15-11, the Palmer JV 15-9, Redington 15-8 and Seward 15-12, which seeded the Bulldogs first for Saturday’s bracket.
Soldotna defeats Kodiak
The visiting Soldotna volleyball team opened up its Northern Lights Conference season by notching victories over Kodiak on Friday and Saturday.
Friday, the Stars notched a sweep.
In the first game, SoHi overcame a 22-18 deficit to win 25-23. In the second set, the Stars survived five Kodiak game points and deficits of 8-0 and 17-9 to win 31-29. Soldotna then stormed to a 17-5 lead in the third game en route to a 25-20 win.
Carsen Brown had 29 assists for the Stars, while Aliann Schmidt had seven kills, Ituau Tuisaula had five kills, Kodi McGillivray had five kills, and Brittani Blossom had five kills and eight digs.
For the Bears, Kyla Nocon had six kills, 20 digs and 14 assists, while Hallee Blair had six kills.
Saturday was again close, but this time the Bears managed a game in a 25-21, 25-20, 24-26 and 25-23 SoHi victory.
Brown tallied 42 assists this time, with Schmidt registering 15 kills. Also for the Stars, Tuisaula had four kills, four aces and two blocks, Blossom had seven kills and nine digs, McGillivray had eight kills, Bailey Leach had seven kills and Holleigh Jaime had nine digs.
For Kodiak, Nocon had 21 assists, 19 digs, nine kills and two aces. Blair added 24 digs and eight kills.
