Knight spikers win Anchorage tournament

ANCHORAGE -- Colony has been very familiar with reaching the final game of a volleyball tournament, but on Saturday the Knights found out what it felt like to win a tourney.

After placing second in the last four tournaments the Colony spikers participated in, the Knights topped Service to win the annual Dimond/Service Invitational.

A 15-6 win in the third game was the difference for Colony in the match. The Knights won the first game 26-24, while Service captured the second game by the same score.

Rochelle Ray led the Knights in the final match with a .342 hitting percentage on 35 total attempts. The senior outside hitter scored 14 kills against only two errors. Ray also added 12 digs.

Amanda Aafedt recorded a team-high 16 digs in the match and Jordan Pokryfki registered a Knight-high 22 assists.

The 12th annual tournament featured 17 teams from around the state in two days of action. On Friday, teams participated in pool play and faced each opponent in a pair of games. The Knights split with Dimond and swept Soldotna, Skyview and Bartlett.

In a best-of-three elimination round on Saturday, the Knights defeated a trio of tough Anchorage opponents -- Dimond, South and Service -- en route to the championship game.

Colony swept Dimond 2-0 (25-23, 27-25), South (25-18, 28-26) and Dimond 2-0 (27-25, 25-23) before beating Service.

Pokryfki, a junior setter, and Aafedt, a senior outside hitter, were each named to the all-tournament team.

The Knights return to the Valley tonight and host Mat-Su rival Wasilla at 6:30 p.m.

Heritage defeats Houston

Heritage Christian defeated Houston 3-1 last week.

The Hawks won the first game of the match 25-20, but Heritage came back to win three unanswered games.

Kirsten Bauer led the Hawks with six kills. Amber Moratta registered a pair of aces and Kayla Fox added two kills for the Hawks.

Bears sweep Moose

The Kodiak Bears swept the Palmer Moose in a pair of matches at Kodiak last weekend.

Kodiak defeated Palmer 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 25-18) on Friday and 3-0 (27-25, 26-24, 25-23) on Saturday.

Though both matches were sweeps, Saturday proved to be a better day for the Moose.

"All three were hard fought games," Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds said. "We could have won any of the three."

Karaline Naegele led the Moose with 10 kills and 11 digs on Friday. Naegele paced Palmer with five kills on Friday.

Stephanie Houser registered seven kills and six blocks in Saturday's loss.

The Moose dropped to 0-4 in Region III play and 4-8 overall.

Palmer hosts Service Wednesday at 6 p.m.