The host Kenai Central volleyball team defeated Soldotna in five sets Friday in the annual Killing Cancer on the Kenai match.
Fundraisers revolving around the match raised money for Heath McLeod, who was diagnosed with bladder cancer in February 2024. The preliminary estimate for the amount raised is $10,000.
“I just love that the community comes out and shows up for his family,” Kenai head coach Tracie Beck said. “They’ll never forget this night, and my girls will never forget this night.
“It was more than just volleyball. That wasn’t the focus to me. I’m glad they took care of business, for sure. But I’m more proud of continuing to leave this legacy of helping people that are having a hard time.”
McLeod has undergone four rounds of chemotherapy and had surgery. He is recovering from the surgery and has regular scans to check if the cancer has returned.
He is well-known to everybody in the Kenai Peninsula volleyball community. With current Kenai assistant Bruce King, McLeod began coaching with the Peninsula Midnight Sun Volleyball Club in 2006.
McLeod also was assistant coach and JV coach at Soldotna from 2007 to 2012. He continued with Midnight Sun until 2021.
Soldotna coach Luke Baumer took a pie to the face as part of one fundraiser and was happy to do it.
“He’s been a huge piece of the growth of this sport,” Baumer said. “When we found out that he got cancer, Tracie and I both agreed that this night needed to be for him.
“They did a fantastic job with it. Kenai knows how to do this stuff really well.”
McLeod was in attendance and was treated to a match that showed off the high level of volleyball on the peninsula that McLeod helped create.
The Kardinals (13-0 in nontournament play) are the two-time defending Class 3A state champions, while the Stars (8-6) made the Class 4A state tournament last season.
Both teams showed they are ready for another postseason run on this final weekend of the regular season.
The Stars came out sharp on defense and swinging freely on offense in taking the first two games.
In the first game, Hallie Fischer served out the final five points for the Stars in a 25-17 victory.
In the second game, the Kardinals cut SoHi’s lead to 24-23, but a clutch kill from Fischer gave the Stars a 25-23 victory.
“We went and swung,” Baumer said. “We swung over 100 times. That was our goal, and that’s what we did.”
Beck said a cough is continuing to work its way through her team.
“It’d be nice to have a group of everybody healthy,” she said. “I’m proud of them. They hunkered down and battled it out.”
Kenai dominated Game 3 to the tune of 25-12.
In the third set, Baumer said his team got overly excited on defense and struggled a bit hitting, but he gave credit to Kenai.
“We knew that it wasn’t over,” he said. “Exactly what we thought in the third set, they came out swinging and digging up everything.”
Beck gave her team credit for targeted and tough serving.
“I feel like our serving created situations where they didn’t have all of their options in running the offense,” she said. “When you don’t have all those options, or quicker options, and it’s a higher set, it gives us the opportunity to set up our defense.”
Kenai kept right on rolling in Game 4, forcing SoHi to take a timeout down 14-4. The Stars were able to make it 23-20 on a kill by Sadie Lane, but a missed serve set up game point.
Then came the point of the night, with both squads ripping attacks at each other and digging up everything until a stuff block by Kate Wisnewski and Avia Miller gave Kenai the 25-20 victory amid a deafening roar of the crowd.
In the fifth game, Kenai’s Sarah Baisden served out three points to get it to 10-4, and SoHi could not recover after that.
“We still swung it, and we were still getting kills, they just weren’t going down nearly as easily,” Baumer said. “It was their defense and their block.”
Beck gave credit to libero Brynnen Hansen, who had 40 digs, for leading that defense.
“She just comes and does her job,” Beck said of Hansen. “It’s nothing flashy, but that is such a huge part of our offense. And it’s a thankless job.”
Wisnewski added 28 digs, while Stella Selanoff had 18 and Sophie Tapley had 16.
Tapley whipped down 20 kills, while Avia Miller had nine and Selanoff had five. Wisnewski had 45 assists, while Avia Miller, Ellsi Miller and Tapley each had two blocks.
For Soldotna, Sarah Brown had 38 assists while Veronica Crane had 24 digs, and Morgan Simac and Lane each added 17 digs. Lane had 17 kills, with Cassidy Kruse adding 13.
Simac had five blocks, while Abygale Schaeffer had four and Fischer had three. Fischer and Brown each had three aces.
Baumer loved the way Cruse played.
“Her energy was high, and that kept revamping things back up on the court again,” he said.
The coach also said Crane had a big night on defense, keeping SoHi in points when Kenai started discovering more ways to get around the SoHi block.
