Sports : Moose work way to top - Frontiersman
Posted using ShareThis
By Jeremiah BartzFrontiersmanPublished on Saturday, November 7, 2009 10:46 PM AKST
WASILLA — The 2009 season has been a work in progress for the Palmer Moose.Throughout early-season struggles and mid-season slumps, Palmer continued to work. And on Saturday, the Moose showed their progress.Palmer scored a 3-1 (25-27, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21) win over Valley rival Colony in the title match of the Northern Lights Conference Championships volleyball tournament at Wasilla High School.
“We were a really new team at the beginning and we struggled. But throughout the year we just came together, and we did it,” Palmer senior Nicole Cherrier said after the match. “I’m just really proud of my team.”
The Moose rebounded from a tight, two-point loss in the first game of the match, and won the following three sets to capture Palmer’s second NLC title in three years and third since 2003.
Winning in that fashion was appropriate for a Moose squad that found itself losing early in the season, but gaining confidence and momentum as the year went on.
“It took a while for things to come together. We spent at least half of the season figuring things out,” Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds said. “We lost a bunch in the early-going, people were frustrated.”
Palmer led by as many as four points early in the first set of the match, and three points late, but Colony used a late rally to win the first game 27-25.
That first-set win could have set the tone for the Knights, but the Moose muscled back. “Everybody has ups and downs, it’s just a matter of how you bring it back up in the next game,” Palmer senior Brittany Arlow said.
And with a balanced attack on offense and Arlow leading the way on the defensive side of the floor, the Moose were able to steadily march to the title.
“They play real well as a team,” Colony head coach Amy Carter said. “They just played steady the whole match and kept to their game plan.”
Cherrier led the Moose with 13 kills in the game. Junior Kendal Venzke added 11 and senior Mallory Manier chipped in eight.Sophomores Jenna Arlow and Morgan Morfe combined for 12 kills in the win.
“We got real good production for all of our hitters,” Reynolds said. “It was a real nice balance.”
Brittany Arlow led the Moose defensively with 19 digs. Senior Jaimi Cox stood out in front of the net, with a season-high six total blocks.
Led by the likes of Cherrier, Venzke and Manier, Palmer was able to build significant leads in every game of the match.
Palmer led by as much as eight points in the second game, seven in the third and five in the fourth. But in every game, the Knights chewed into the advantage.“I was real proud of the girls for fighting back every time,” Carter said. Senior Siobhan Johansen, who was named the most valuable player of the NLC North following the tourney, led Colony with 32 assists and five blocks. Senior Sierra Hodgson posted a match-high 14 kills. Shellina Irwin added nine kills and Brittany Brown added eight. Katie Gonski led CHS with 18 digs.
Palmer’s third title in seven years also marked the third meeting between the Moose and the Knights in the past six NLC championship matches. Palmer and Colony also met in the 2004 and 2007 conference title matches. Palmer edged Colony 3-2 in 2007 and the Knights swept the Moose 2-0 in 2004.This also marks the seventh straight season that either Palmer or Colony has won the NLC title. The Knights won the conference tournament in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008.Skyview was the last non-Palmer area team to win a NLC volleyball title, scoring a 3-2 win over Palmer in 2007.
The Moose and Knights also earned automatic berths to the upcoming ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships. Palmer is headed to state for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons.Soldotna earned the final NLC berth with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-21) win over Kodiak in the third-place match Saturday afternoon. That contest was actually a rematch of a first-round meeting. On Thursday, fourth-seeded Kodiak upset top-ranked Soldotna, the conference’s lone undefeated team during the regular season, 3-1.After a 3-0 loss to Palmer in the semifinals Friday, Kodiak pulled off another upset Saturday, beating host Wasilla 3-1 in the 9 a.m. match.
The Warriors were eliminated from tourney play with the 3-1 (25-17, 25-16, 17-25, 26-24) loss.Soldotna moved into the third-place match with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-21) win over Kenai and 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-13) victory over Skyview.
Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.
All-Northern LightsConference
NLC North MVP: Siobhan Johansen, Colony
NLC South MVP: Shana Powell, Soldotna
Coach of the Year: Bruce King, Soldotna
First-team All-NLC:Sierra Hodgson, Colony; Jaxon HIll, Skyview; Nicole Cherrier, Palmer; Emily Rohloff, Soldotna; Mara Yatsik, Kodiak; Mariah Huhndorf, Kenai; Brittany Arlow, Palmer; Aryn Crane, Wasilla.
Second-team All-NLC:Jessie Erickson, Homer; Emily Horn, Kodiak; Sariah Tuisaula, Wasilla; Casee Penrod, Skyview; Jenna Arlow, Palmer; Mariah Hamilton, Soldotna; Monica Hutchinson, Skyview; Lexi Beeson, Kenai.
Good sport team:Gaynor Johansen, Colony; Carla Muller, Homer; Lierin Flanagan, Kenai; Karly Sternberg, Kodiak; Danielle Pempek, Palmer; Jaci Lamborn, Skyview; Jasmine Woodland, Soldotna; Kaitlin Pevan, Wasilla.
No comments:
Post a Comment