Sports : Moose sink Mariners to close out season - Frontiersman

Sports : Moose sink Mariners to close out season - Frontiersman


By TIM ROCKEY
For the Frontiersman
Published on Saturday, October 30, 2010 9:51 PM AKDT

PALMER — If you watched the Northern Lights Conference volleyball action at Palmer High on Friday, you wouldn’t have thought it was a fairly meaningless game.

Both teams have already been seeded for this week’s regional tournament, but the Senior Night match between the Moose and Panthers was no dud. Skyview won the match, but needed four games, 25-22, 25-17, (25-18), 25-21.

“Palmer’s always steady and they’re on their home floor. This should be a good match,” Skyview head coach Sheila Kupfershmid said.

Both teams play similar styles of volleyball, relying heavily on their setters for offense. Palmer junior Jenna Arlow and Panther Rebecca Egan provided the fireworks when it came to moving the volleyball.

Game one saw streaks back and forth as the teams jockeyed for dominance. Palmer started off playing somewhat sloppy, but junior Sarah Scoresby sparked a short rally when she rejected a thundering Holly Ransell hit back to the Skyview side of the court for a block, and then followed up with an ace from the service line.

Before that point, when Palmer looked finished for the game, the Moose played strong to tie the score at 22. But Palmer couldn’t stay perfect forever and Skyview’s raw power proved too much in the first game and the Panthers came out on top 25-22.

Palmer picked up its play in the second game, but Skyview didn’t let up. Holly Ransell rattled off three aces in a serve streak of four. Setter Rebecca Egan showed her versatility on the court and gave Palmer’s defense fits with a serve streak of five later in the game.

After the second game, Palmer sophomore Lily Cullers and junior Morgan Morfe switched out on defense, allowing Arlow to find Morfe for the kill again and again. Morfe’s powerful spikes, along with the blocking presence of Jessica Dennis and serve streaks of seven and four by junior KaLene Smith, Palmer found its groove.

The Moose surged to a 25-18 victory and re-energized the Senior Night crowd at Palmer High School.

Morfe took over for the majority of the fourth game. Arlow repeatedly found her teammate along the net for a blistering spike. When Arlow was not setting up Morfe, she was using her own creative methods to give the Skyview defense problems. Arlow’s attempted to score on the “no-look” by gently setting the ball to the other side of the net behind her back when the defense is under the impression she will pass to a hitter.

Arlow met her match on Friday, though. Skyview’s Rebecca Egan bested Arlow with 32 assists to her 27.

The final game was close with Skyview leading late 20-18.

Following the break in action, the Knights could not put together a valid attempt at scoring and their hopes of a fifth game evaporated.

Hill finished with 13 kills to lead the Panthers.

Skyview will wait until the region tournament for their next action, where they are seeded second. The Panthers only region loss this season was to Wasilla, which finished undefeated against conference teams and seeded No. 1.

Palmer 3, Homer 0

Palmer followed up with an easy win Saturday over the Homer Mariners at Palmer High School. The Moose outscored the Mariners by 27 points over the three-game sweep, 25-10, 25-11, 25-18.

The first game started off close until Palmer junior Sarah Scoresby busted it open with three aces in a row, causing a Mariner time-out and beginning the lopsided victory.

Senior Rebecca Stella led the effort with nine kills. Stella and junior KaLene Smith each had four blocks. Palmer junior Jenna Arlow distributed 26 assists, allowing all but two Moose to score at the net.

Game two was another lopsided win, featuring multiple streaks upwards of five serves. If it wasn’t for an impressive defensive play from the Mariners, the Moose would have won the game without allowing Homer to get into double digits.

“We played Colony close in all three games last night,” said Homer head coach Elizabeth Trowbridge. “We’ve figured out how to play at a high level, we just haven’t figured out how to finish.”

The Moose became somewhat complacent in the third game, but played well enough to handle Homer. Both teams advance to the region tournament at Skyview this week, where Valley teams have three of the top four seeds in the region.

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