Sports : Moose notch narrow victory - Frontiersman

Sports : Moose notch narrow victory - Frontiersman

By TIM ROCKEY
For the Frontiersman
Published on Thursday, October 28, 2010 11:27 PM AKDT

PALMER — The Palmer Moose used an all-around effort to notch a victory over cross-town nemesis Colony Knights Tuesday night. Avenging a loss to the Knights earlier this year, the Moose steadily gained momentum. Sophomore Jessica Dennis came up big along with a cast of Palmer Moose to edge past the Colony Knights 20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 26-24.

“Ball control is always the key” said Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds. “We just need to play error free volleyball.”

Junior setter Jenna Arlow notched a game-high 27 sets, solving Palmer’s ball control problems. Her 27 sets were spread across eight Moose hitters. All but two Moose scored kills.

Colony Sophomore Olivia Martin served a game-high 7 aces, causing the Moose defense problems all night. Shellina Irwin and Mary Klapperich led the team in kills. Irwin finished with 12. Klapperich had seven to go along with her team-high four blocks. Martin also lead the team with 15 sets.

Colony started the match off hot in game one. Martin opened up a lead with a serve streak of four, serving two aces in the process. The game stayed fairly even until Kathryn Mayer put the game out of reach for the Moose with her own serve streak of four. The Knights’ serves paired with sloppy play from Palmer resulted in a 25-20 first game victory for Colony.

The Moose would settle down in a big way. With Kendal Venzke, KaLene Smith, and Rebecca Stella serving streaks of four, the Moose built a strong lead.

The momentum swung quickly in game two. Jenna Arlow went far out of bounds and made a leaping one-handed save on a ball that would eventually turn into a point for the Moose. Fittingly, Arlow then stepped back to the service line to attack the Knights from there.

Sophomore Jessica Dennis caught fire in the third game. Dennis tallied five kills and two of her game-high five blocks. Dennis’ hard hits gave the Moose something to compete with those of Colony senior Shellina Irwin.

Palmer senior Kendal Venzke added seven kills, playing through a pulled quadricep.

With defeat staring them dead in the eye, the Colony Knights fought back. Senior Laura Maresh built an early lead for the Knights.

Irwin would fight for her final Palmer-Colony game with 6 game four kills. Fellow Senior Tess Forstner would add four.

But the Moose would chip away throughout the game until it was dead even. With the score 24-18, Colony Sophomore Allison Leigh, most often noted for her blocking prowess, rattled off six straight points from the service line to put the Knights back in the hunt.

The Knights comeback was denied by Senior Chantel Grover.

“It’s pretty big” said Grover. “We played them to five games and lost by two last year, so it was really good to come back this year and win.”

The Moose are coming off some tough matches last weekend. Palmer split with South Anchorage and went to three games with Dimond.

The Moose host Skyview and Homer this weekend. Colony plays Homer tonight.

Tim Rockey is a senior at Palmer High School who also writes for the Frontiersman’s Sports section.