Sports : Fast tournament start not enough for Moose - Frontiersman

Sports : Fast tournament start not enough for Moose - Frontiersman

By JEREMIAH BARTZ
Frontiersman
Published on Thursday, November 11, 2010 11:48 PM AKST

WASILLA — During the first game of their match Thursday night, the Palmer Moose appeared to be headed right toward pulling off an upset. The Moose smacked two-time defending state champion Dimond with a 25-16 defeat in the first set.

But with that fast start, the Moose may have simply awoken a sleeping giant.

The Lynx took the final three games to secure a 3-1 (16-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-22) win over the Moose during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Volleyball Championships at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla.

“Dimond definitely turned their heat up with their serves, and it kind of snowballed from there,” Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds said after the loss.

Although Dimond was able to use its height to its advantage, both offensively and defensively, Reynolds said he felt it all started with Dimond’s superior serving.

“That was the biggest key,” Reynolds said. “They just came out strong, and the serves kept us off balance.”

The serving, Reynolds said, allow the Lynx to control the play of the match in other aspects.

“Once they got us out of sorts, they had their way with us,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the Moose had a particularly tough time passing the ball.

“Once the passing goes away, the setting gets tougher, everything gets harder,” Reynolds said. “When the hitters are not getting (the ball) as easily, it starts to affect other parts of the game.”

Led by the hitting of senior Kendal Venzke, Palmer jumped out to an early led in the first set.

“We just played very well that first game,” Reynolds said.

Palmer used a five-point run — that included kills by Jessica Dennis and Chantel Grover, and a Venzke ace — to take an 8-4 lead in the game.

Palmer capped a 5-1 run with a Jenna Arlow ace to take the 11-5 lead.

Kalene Smith scored another ace later in the game to give the Moose the 20-13 advantage, and Palmer closed the game thanks to consecutive Dimond hits into the net.

But after that, Dimond was able to quickly capture the momentum. The Lynx opened with four straight points in the second game and used a six-point run to take an 11-4 lead.

Dimond also led by significant margins in games 3 and 4, but Palmer was able to claw back. But each time, the rally fell short.

Dimond edged Palmer by three points in each of the final two games.

“I definitely liked that,” Reynolds said of the rallies. “But we had little lulls in our play early in those games. In the state tournament against good teams, like Dimond, you can’t take those little breaks.

Venzke led the Moose with 12 kills in the game. Arlow contributed 29 assists.

With the loss Palmer is pushed backward and will play Juneau-Douglas this morning at 9. Juneau suffered a 3-2 loss to Chugiak on Thursday.

Dimond moves forward to play Chugiak this afternoon at 3:45 p.m.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.