Colony closes in on another top seed in conference tourney

PALMER — Last season, with an undefeated regular season record, the Colony Knights were an undisputed top seed in the Northern Lights Conference tournament.

But things are different this season.

Colony graduated seven seniors and returned just two players from that NLC title-winning squad. The Knights aren’t running away with the conference, but remain firmly in the hunt.

On Friday, Colony moved one step closer to securing another top seed in the upcoming conference tourney with a 3-1 (25-10, 25-16, 14-25, 25-17) win over the Kodiak Bears at Colony High School.

Even though the Knights could be a win away from securing a No. 1 seed, Colony head coach Amy Carter said her squad isn’t preoccupied with that fact.

“Honestly, we haven’t even talked about it,” Carter said. “Our goal is to just get better every game.”

And Carter is seeing that improvement.

“Every game they are doing something better,” Carter said. “Our defense is getting better. We’re playing better as a team.”

Carter said she was pleased with her team’s defensive play in particular on Friday. Sierra Hodgson led the Knights with 17 digs on the defensive side of the floor, and Katie Gonski added 12 digs.

“Katie Gonski and Sierra Hodgson both had really good defensive games tonight,” Carter said.

While Gonski and Hodgson led the Knights on defense, middle hitter Shellina Irwin led the Colony offensive attack.

Irwin swatted a match-high 14 kills. She also collected four aces.

“She had a great game tonight,” Carter said of Irwin. “She was hitting the ball very well. She served the ball incredible.”

Irwin served a trio of aces during a five-point run early in the first set to help Colony jump out to the 10-3 lead.

Irwin collected five of her 14 kills to help Colony score a win in the decisive fourth game.

Thanks in part to the play of their front line, Kodiak scored a win during the third set to prevent the Colony sweep. Kodiak collected three blocks during a late 10-2 run in the game.

“They had a very good block going, especially in the third game,” Carter said. “Kodiak played really good defense. They always do.”

Brittany Brown added 10 kills and nine digs for the Knights. Setter Siobhan Johansen added 31 assists and three blocks.

Colony will conclude its NLC regular season schedule when the Knights host Wasilla Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Colony High.

Wasilla gets by

North Pole

WASILLA — The Wasilla Warriors recovered from a 25-11 loss in the first set to score a 3-1 (11-25, 25-16, 25-15, 25-18) nonconference win over the North Pole Patriots Friday at Wasilla High School.

Palmer tops Chugiak

CHUGIAK — The Palmer Moose scored a 2-1 nonconference win over the Chugiak Mustangs Thursday at Chugiak High School.

Kendal Venzke led the Moose with 11 kills. Brittany Arlow collected 19 digs, and Danielle Pempek collected 19 assists.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.