Cook Inlet Academy's second match in the Alaska School Activities Association Class 1-2A Volleyball State Championships was against another team that won its conference this fall - Kenny Lake.

The two teams hadn't matched up yet this year, but Kenny Lake coach Shilah Butler said she knew the Eagles would give her team a challenge at Dimond High School on Friday.

"We knew they hit really well," Butler said.

But at the end of four games, the Hawks came out ahead of the Eagles, besting them 25-21 in the final game for a 3-1 record advantage in the match.

There's just one thing Cook Inlet Academy senior Kelsie Leaf wants to change about how her team played the first match of the Alaska School Activities Association Class 1-2A Volleyball State Championships.

She wants the winning streak to start with Game 1, not Game 2.

The Eagles won the match 3-1, besting Kalskag by just two points at the end of the fourth game.

"That was, I think, the best we've ever played," Leaf said. "And it's huge to come in and win our first (match). It feels awesome."

A new source of natural gas should hit the market before the new year.

Production from Buccaneer Energy’s first Kenai Loop well is scheduled to begin in less than three weeks.

Initially, Buccaneer will be selling its gas to Enstar. 

Kenai Loop is an onshore development near WalMart. 

“We believe this project holds significant upside for the company,” Buccaneer’s Chief Executive Officer Curtis Burton said during a teleconference Wednesday.

A number of Kenai Peninsula businesses are installing renewable energy systems this winter due to a United States Department of Agriculture grant program that aided the purchases.

The USDA’s Renewable Energy for America Program targets small businesses and agricultural producers, said Chad Stovall, who helps administer the program in Alaska.

Stovall said that four of the five central Peninsula applicants received funding in 2011. On the entire Kenai Peninsula, 10 of 24 applicants were funded.