HS Volleyball: Curtis gets back on track shuts out up and coming Sumner

9/30/2025

Curtis 3, Sumner 0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-22)

(University Place, WA) The Curtis Vikings ended one streak ion Monday night and began another on Tuesday. The Vikings snapped their 34-match win streak Monday to Lake Stevens in a non-league showdown. They had little time to worry about that loss because they had to bounce right back to face an up and coming Sumner squad who came into the SPSL 4A conference match unbeaten at 6-0.

Curtis coach Camryn Buell said before the match that the Monday night loss was maybe something her squad needed. “This will remind them not to take anything for granted and other teams and programs also have the same goals they do and that’s winning a State Championship.” She said, “the loss was humbling and I think is going to re-focus all of us on what we want to accomplish.”

Sumner Head Coach Katlyn Mataya-Nakamura is in her 3rd year and has been working to turn-around a down program. Mataya-Nakamura says, “this group has worked hard and tonight we’re going to find out where we are.” Although 6-0, taking on the defending 4A Champs in a conference game is by far their biggest test of the season.

The up and comer’s were swept in this match but there were many positives to take from the match. First of all they never gave up and trailed 22-13 in the 1st set and outscored the Vikings 7-3 down the stretch to finish strong. Rylee Insley and Brooke Anardi both finished strong at the service line.

The Spartans fell behind in the 2nd set and the Vikings applied pressure they couldn’t recover in dropping the set to trail 2-0. In the must win 3rd set, the Spartans were trailing early when Bryn Kastberg stepped up to fire off 6 straight points. Kastberg got great support from Jada Foster, Natalie Byran and Addison Schultz.

The two teams battled back and forth when Elaina Duong took-over for Curtis firing off 3 straight points and the Vikings would never give up the lead winning 25-22 in a hard fought battle.

It was a solid showing for Sumner, and gave them a great barometer to measure where they are and what they have to do to reach that next level.

Meantime, for stretches the Vikings looked as good as they can but still too many unforced errors and a few communication issues to clean up as they get into the heart of the conference season. Curtis had strong matches from Kayla Baker who recorded 6 kills and multiple blocks. Baker had help with the front line from Bella McNaughton, the freshman with 5 spikes and Presley Messersmith.

Attacking from the back, Kate Harris and libero Duong were strong and Mia Nelson was big in all aspects.

In fact, Mia’s effort stood out to us and she was named our Sumner Holiday Inn Express MVP of the Game.

Curtis is now 3-0 in SPSL conference play and 8-1 overall. The Vikings are back in action on Thursday at Emerald Ridge. Sumner drops to 2-1 and 6-1 for the season. The Spartans are on the road again on Thursday at Rogers.

Click this link to watch the full match replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)

Video Highlights

Mia Nelson pounds home a big kill