The visiting Nikiski volleyball team swept Grace Christian on Friday and Redington on Saturday to improve to 6-0 in Southcentral Conference play.
The Bulldogs defeated the Grizzlies 30-28, 25-21 and 25-22 after topping Grace in five games earlier this season.
“We set a goal in three games this time since it took five to beat them last time,” Nikiski coach Stacey Segura said. “We wanted to have that reassurance for the team that we were getting better.”
Segura said the Bulldogs were down in the first and third games, but were able to pull through.
Bethany Carstens did not play last time against Grace, but this time had 13 kills and three blocks. Kaitlyn Johnson added three aces, 14 assists and 14 digs. Also for the Bulldogs, Jamie Yerkes had seven kills, Melanie Sexton had 10 kills and 13 digs, Emma Wik had 12 assists and Kelsey Clark had 21 digs.
Segura said the defensive consistency of Clark, Elisa Fardin and Sexton was a huge factor in the match.
Against Redington, Nikiski won 25-16, 25-9 and 25-3.
Clark had seven aces and six digs, Johnson had five aces and 15 assists, Rylee Jackson had six kills, Sexton had four kills and four digs, and Yerkes had four kills. Also, Wik had four assists.
Segura said the pace of the match was different than Friday, and it took her defense time to adjust, but they adjusted by the third game.
The coach added that America Jeffreys did a good job filling in for Fardin and Kaycee Bostic also played strong at the net.
Nikiski travels to Kenai on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Soldotna sweeps Kodiak
The Soldotna volleyball team defeated Kodiak in matches Friday and Saturday to move to 5-2 in the Northern Lights Conference.
Friday, the Stars won 25-11, 25-19, 23-25 and 25-21. Saturday, the scores were 25-19, 25-23, 19-25 and 25-16.
“Kodiak is very tenacious and feisty,” Soldotna coach Sheila Kupferschmid said. “They play a lot of balls out of system and just get the ball over the net and force you to make mistakes. Our game is more in system and in control.
“The matches were good for us. I think they grew us up.”
Friday, Ella Stenga had three kills, 16 digs, a block and 10 service points; Kodi McGillivray had eight kills, six digs, nine aces and 20 service points; Shay Zener had 11 kills, 19 digs and 14 service points; Aliann Schmidt had 12 kills and four blocks; Bailey Leach had five service points, a block and a kill; Holleigh Jaime had 24 digs, three aces and nine service points; Callie Christiansen had 28 assists and five points; Carsen Brown had nine assists and a point; and Paulyne Catacutan had seven digs.
Kupferschmid said McGillivray was on fire with her serve and made a big difference in the match. The coach also credited Brown for filling in for Christiansen, who had been out sick.
Saturday, Schmidt had eight kills and six blocks; Zener had eight kills, 23 digs and 23 points; Jaime had 23 digs and seven points; McGillivray had eight kills and 10 points; Stenga had 13 digs, seven kills, three blocks and nine points; Leach had two kills, a block and six points; and Christiansen had 18 points.
Kupferschmid said Zener again had a great match, using her skill to take over the match despite being 5-foot-1.
Earlier Saturday, Kodiak had scored a sweep at Kenai Central, dropping the Kardinals to 0-5 in the league and 0-6 overall.
Seward sweeps on road
The Seward volleyball team swept road affairs at Redington on Friday and Houston on Saturday.
Friday, the Seahawks won 25-14, 25-16 and 26-24. Seward coach Jodi Kurtz said she used her players at different positions in the match to challenge the players to communicate on concentrate on playing a new position.
Saturday, the Seahawks swept Houston 25-19, 25-14 and 25-15.
Coral Petrosius had four kills, Ashley Jackson had four kills from the back row, and Riley Von Borstel had three kills. Kurtz said her team’s defense was strong and getting passes to setter Maille Moriarity, who had 54 good sets and no errors. In the third game, Moriarity played as an outside hitter and she had four kills in 10 attempts at hitting.
Houston 3, Homer 0
The visiting Mariners fell to 2-3 in the Southcentral Conference with a 25-18, 25-17 and 25-16 loss to the Hawks on Friday.
Kelli Bishop had six assists and six kills for the Mariners, while Karmyn Gallios pitched in with 17 digs and four aces.
ACS 3, Homer 0
The visiting Mariners fell to 2-4 in the Southcentral Conference with a 25-15, 25-14 and 25-17 loss to the Lions.
Marina Carroll had three blocks for the Mariners, while Laura Inama had five kills, Bishop had seven assists and Brianna Hetrick had two aces.
