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Skyview volleyball coach Sheila Kupferschmid packed her players into a hotel room Thursday morning to inspire them with a classic sports story of an underdog that pulled off an upset.The team watched "Facing the Giants," a movie about a struggling high school football team that turned things around and won a state championship. Skyview used the film as fuel to create a similar story of its own in Thursday's first round of the Class 4A state volleyball championships at West High.The Panthers swept perennial powerhouse Juneau-Douglas in three sets 25-22, 25-22, 25-15, to capture the program's first opening-round victory at the state tournament in seven seasons."Juneau has tradition and experience," Kupferschmid said. "We came in with no experience."But Skyview (15-7), making its first state tournament appearance since 2002, came away with an upset and a ticket to today's semifinal against Cook Inlet Conference champion Dimond, a four-set winner over Kodiak 17-25, 25-21, 25-13, 25-13.The Panthers weren't the only team to orchestrate an upset Thursday.Chugiak knocked off undefeated Colony in four sets in the late match, giving Anchorage's Cook Inlet Region three of today's four semifinalists. Chugiak beat the Knights, 22-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-20.Chugiak advances to a match with South, which beat Lathrop 23-25, 25-13, 25-20, 25-16.None of those teams rival Skyview's underdog status, though. Skyview has the lowest enrollment among the eight tournament teams and it's the only semifinal team without a state championship.The school on the outskirts of Soldotna has fewer than 500 students -- small by Class 4A standards. If it had 70 fewer students, Skyview would be a Class 3A school.Juneau, meanwhile, has more than 1,700 students, a 2002 state trophy and has never missed a state tournament in the last 16 seasons. The Crimson Bears' history is so rich, season after season, that long-time coach Sandi Wagner couldn't recall the last time they lost a first-round match."You're asking the wrong person," she said.But Kupferschmid, a 10-year coach for Skyview, knew right away when her team had good runs in the state tournament."We had a three-year string starting in 2000," she said. "So it's been a while since we've gotten to this point. It took time to rebuild."And it took an inspirational movie to get the Panthers rolling against a team they split a two-set match with earlier this season at the West Spiketacular.Jessie Bilderback said watching the 2006 flick about a team that did the unexpected built some confidence in the Panthers."Even though we're small, we can still do it," the senior libero said. The Panthers did it Thursday thanks to Casee Penrod's team-high 30 kills, Brittney Meyer's 10 service points, Jaxon Hill's three blocks and Bilderback's 11 digs.
Dimond 3, Kodiak 1Dimond suffered a breakdown in the first game and rallied to beat Kodiak 17-25, 25-21, 25-13, 25-13."We were second-guessing ourselves," Dimond's Amanda Howard said.The Lynx got things rolling in the second game and never looked back to win their first state quarterfinal match since 2003.Senior Kelsey Pacolt paved the way for Dimond with a team-high 19 kills and 13 digs. Senior Lauren Fulton added 23 digs and 10 kills, while junior Taylor Adams ran the offense with 43 assists.Howard, a junior libero, was glad the Lynx regrouped after a shaky start."We wanted it more," she said.South 3, Lathrop 1Three-time defending champion South lost its first game, but used the defeat as motivation to rattle off three straight wins and knock off Lathrop."We got to play more games," South captain Corie Brewer said.After losing 23-25, the Wolverines won 25-13, 25-20, 25-16 and inched one step closer to becoming the second Class 4A program to four-peat. The Service Cougars won four straight titles from 1989-92.Brewer hopes the Wolverines can match Service's feat, even though the Wolverines have a relatively inexperienced squad."We had girls that were like, 'Oh my god, we're at state,' " Brewer said. "But we got through all the jitters."Brewer powered South with 10 kills and five blocks, while Caroline Wilson added 11 kills, Volanni Munro put up 15 roofs and Christa Boisen registered eight blocks. Chugiak 3, Colony 1Krysten Labrecque's back-to-back kills secured Chugiak's victory over previously undefeated Colony and its first quarterfinal win since 1995.The Mustangs advanced to tonight's semifinal against three-time defending state champion South, a squad they beat in all three regular- season matches."It's going to be intense," Labrecque said.Thursday night's match wasn't so bad either. After Colony won the first game 25-22, Chugiak went on a tear and won three in a row -- 25-19, 25-16, 25-20. The loss was Colony's first in 19 matches this season.Labrecque said Chugiak was able to beat the Northern Lights Conference champions because the Mustang offense doesn't revolve around one player. "It's all about teamwork," she said. "Everyone puts in an effort." Robyn Burton led Chugiak with 10 kills and six blocks, while Celestia Bowlus added six kills and five blocks.Chugiak first-year coach Kelly Kavanaugh showed the team a print-out of their season record before the match and compared it to Colony's season totals. He said it wasn't all that different."I told them, 'You belong on the same court as Colony,' " Kavanaugh said.