‘It was even sweeter’: Wasilla takes circuitous route to second straight 4A volleyball title

The Wasilla volleyball team found itself in an unusual and uncomfortable spot on Thursday night at the Alaska 4A State Tournament — on the losing end of a result.

Since the start of the 2023 season, the Warriors had been virtually unbeatable in best-of-five matches, carrying a 48-game winning streak to state.

But the team didn’t dwell on its 3-2 loss Thursday to South Anchorage. Head coach Katie Oxspring had a heart-to-heart talk with the team, then they went for ice cream.

On Saturday, the Warriors completed their journey through the consolation bracket, topping South Anchorage to earn back-to-back state titles. Oxspring said Thursday night’s message to the team was succinct.

“I begged them not to let that one loss define them,” Oxspring said. “Then we went for ice cream because what they’ve accomplished even if we’d lost the game after that, it doesn’t take away from all they’ve accomplished the last two years and the legacy they’ve left at Wasilla High School.”

Wasilla won a pair of matches Friday, and Saturday morning the Warriors defeated Service 3-0 to reach the final against South.

In the championship, Wasilla came out hot, winning the first set 25-13. But South fought back and took the second set 25-21. The third proved to be the most competitive as South had chances to make it 2-1 before the Warriors closed it out 28-26 to go up 2-1 themselves.

“Being calm, cool and collected (was the key),” Oxspring said. “We had veterans on the team that did it last year, that could be in that situation and persevere.”

With a 25-19 win in the fourth game, Wasilla had earned a 3-1 victory.

With Wasilla earning the win, both South and Wasilla had one loss, setting up a 30-point set for the state title. Wasilla quickly built a 10-point lead. And while the Wolverines got as close as 22-19, Wasilla rallied again and won 30-22.

“In many ways, it was even sweeter,” said Wasilla senior Alli Devine, “to have to go through all of it and come out the winner.”

Despite the route to the title being circuitous, Oxspring said the result proved that the two best teams were competing for the state championship.

“I talked a lot with some of my mentors about the double-elimination bracket, and they told me the best thing about it is the champions will always win, no matter where they end up at any point,” she said. “I told these girls they are champions and they’ll prevail no matter what.”

“That was awesome. That was the game we wanted,” she said. “That was the best competition, and I think those last two teams were the teams that deserved to be there.”