Tuesday volleyball: SoHi tops Homer; Nikiski sweeps Seward

The host Soldotna volleyball team defeated Homer 23-25, 25-19, 25-19 and 25-23 on Tuesday in nonconference action.

The Stars are now 6-4 in nontournament play, while the Mariners are 4-3.

Soldotna celebrated senior night Tuesday. Seniors Kiona Dexter, Kate Curtis, Veronica Crane, Sadie Lane, Abygale Schaeffer and Hallie Fischer played a big role in helping avenge a three-set loss in Homer on Sept. 10.

“Tonight, they stepped up in a big way,” Soldotna head coach Luke Baumer said of his seniors. “I know they were itching for a win against Homer after we got swept when we were there.”

Crane had 18 digs, while Lane had 13 kills and four aces, Schaeffer had seven kills and three blocks, Fischer had six kills and six blocks, and Dexter had four aces.

Also for the Stars, Morgan Simac had 11 kills, Sarah Brown had 42 assists and six kills, and Cassidy Kruse had three blocks.

Baumer said one of the biggest reasons his team was able to prevail is the Stars kept swinging hard. Producing more swings than offspeed attacks started to be a focus in a Sept. 19 victory over Nikiski.

“They didn’t slow down,” he said. “I told them, let’s not, until I give you the signal.

“We don’t fix what’s not broken. So if we’re scoring points off of swings, then we keep swinging.”

The coach said the aggressive attitude is needed to beat the Mariners.

“That’s the thing with Homer,” Baumer said. “It’s like trying to bend iron. You’re hammering and hammering and hammering, and they’re getting everything.”

Homer coach Ian Overson has a mix of five seniors, six sophomores and a freshman this season.

“They work so hard and they try so hard all the time,” Overson said. “It’s amazing to me how well they play together.

“It’s a good blending this year of all the players. I rotate all the positions around, and it works every which way.”

Overson said his squad’s main problem is a tendency to make small mistakes, then fall into a five-point hole early in games.

The Mariners fell behind in each of the first three games, coming back to win the first but dropping the second and third.

In the fourth game, the Mariners led until Lane tied the game at 21 with an ace.

Aggressive serving was a theme of the match. Baumer had his squad down for 16 missed serves and 13 aces.

He said the rule is his team should have more aces than missed serves. At the same time, he didn’t mind making it difficult for Homer to get on-target passes to setter Rebecca Trowbridge.

“She’s really deceptive,” Baumer said. “She waits until the last minute to do something with the ball, then you as a middle blocker or defense have to be able to react quickly.”

Overson also was impressed with the serving.

“There’s a couple of them — they served us and we served them — there’s no way anybody could have passed those balls,” Overson said. “They just dropped. The bottom drops out of them.

“It’s incredible to watch.”

Lane served out four total points to push it to 24-21, but then missed a serve. Homer got it to 24-23, but missed a serve to end the match.

Overson gave credit to Channing Lowney for an efficient game at outside hitter. He also said Trowbridge was solid at setter.

Homer hosts Nikiski at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Southcentral Conference, while Soldotna travels to Colony for Northern Lights Conference play at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Nikiski 3, Seward 0

The host Bulldogs moved to 5-1 in the league and 5-2 in nontournament play in dropping the Seahawks to 2-5 and 5-9.

The scores were 25-21, 25-15 and 25-21.

Alexa Iyatunguk had nine kills for the Bulldogs, while Blakeley Jorgensen had seven and Ashlynne Playle had six.

Avery Ellis led with 17 assists, while Mandee Roofe had five blocks.

Evelyn Reichert led with four aces, while Kailey Stynsberg had 27 digs.

Nikiski travels to play Homer on Thursday at 6 p.m., while Seward hosts Mountain City Christian Academy on Friday.