Knights clinch No. 3 seed with wins

PALMER — After battling to a tough win over Kodiak on Friday and playing three more back-and-forth sets Saturday afternoon, something clicked for the Colony Knights.

Colony jumped out to a 15-3 lead in the decisive fourth set and held on to top Kodiak 3-1 (25-19, 16-25, 25-22, 25-10) at Colony High School.

“It just kind of came together,” Colony head coach Amy Carter said. “The defense was really talking, they were moving their feet, calling the ball. The setters were setting well. The hitters were going up and being aggressive hitting the ball. It was what you’d like to see them do all of the time.”

The late burst help the Knights complete the two-match weekend sweep of the Bears and clinched Colony the No. 3 seed in Northern Lights Conference Championships, which starts Thursday at Kodiak High School.

“This is a good confidence booster for us, to have won these games heading into regions,” Carter said of the Knights, who finished the regular season 6-4 in NLC play.

Senior Allison Leigh helped spark the Knights with three kills and a solo block during a seven –point run in the fourth set. Leigh finished with a match-high 20 kills on Saturday. Leigh could have easily finished with several more if it were not for the stellar play of the Kodiak defense.

“I thought their defense played fantastic,” Carter said. “At times you could see that Allison was surprised her ball got picked up. They really get after it and get balls a lot of teams would not get back.”

Ashley Turcotte, who collected nine kills in the win, was also big for the Knights.

“Ashley has done a tremendous job,” Carter said. “She’s really come a long way.”

Chelsea Friesen led the Knights with 17 digs in the win. Mariah Weydahl and Mackenzie Everett chipped in eight digs each.

Colony fought to a tough 3-1 (28-26, 25-23, 15-25, 25-23) victory on Friday, winning all three of its sets by a mere two points.

“It was very tight, back and forth, right up to the end,” Carter said.

Leigh led Colony with 24 kills and eight blocks. Turcotte had 10 kills and four blocks. Friesen recorded 24 digs, while Zmuda finished with 30 assists.

Hannah Wandersee led Kodiak with 13 kills on Friday and 13 kills on Saturday. Carissa Cannon posted 11 kills on Friday, and collected eight kills and 25 digs on Saturday.

Colony and Kodiak entered the two-match series with identical 4-4 records in NLC play, but the Knights scored the No. 3 seed in the NLC tourney with the wins.

“It’s a good place for us to be,” Carter said.

Colony will open NLC play against sixth-seeded Kenai (0-10) Thursday at 3 p.m. at Kodiak High. Fourth-seeded Kodiak (4-6) will play fifth-seeded Wasilla (2-8) Thursday at 1 p.m.

Palmer and Soldotna each finished with 9-1 records. Tiebreakers will be used to determine the top two seeds in the NLC conference tourney.

Moose sweep Interior foes

FAIRBANKS — The Palmer Moose scored a pair of quick wins in the Interior.

The Moose beat Lathrop 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-17) on Thursday, and followed with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-15) win at North Pole on Friday.

Grace gets best of WHS

ANCHORAGE — Grace Christian earned a 3-0 win over Wasilla in Anchorage on Thursday.

Ashlyn Dorn led the Warriors with seven kills. Amber Sizemore had three kills and three aces.

Wasilla opens NLC play against Kodiak Thursday.