Knights sweep Patriots

PALMER — The North Pole Patriots nearly did something only three other teams have accomplished this season.

The Patriots nearly stole a game from the Colony Knights.

Not a match.

A game.

But Colony used a late run to seal a 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 26-24) win over North Pole at Colony High School on Thursday.

The Knights improved to 11-0 overall with the win, and recorded the three-game sweep for the eighth time this season.

Only Grace Christian, Juneau-Douglas and Palmer have avoided the sweep in matches against Colony, and even then the Grizzlies, Crimson Bears and Moose were only able to force a fourth game.

Colony head coach Amy Carter said, while the sweep is a bonus, it’s not the focus.

“It’s nice, but all I’m concerned about is if they’re playing well,” Carter said of the Knights, who are 33-3 in the games of their 11 matches.

After Colony cruised to a 25-10 win in the first game — the Knights led 14-1 at one point — the scrappy Patriots made the Knights, the 2007 4A state runner-up, work through the final two games of the match.

“They played really good defense,” Carter said of the Patriots. “They were covering the middle and blocking some hits.”

North Pole took a four-point lead early in the second game, thanks to a Brittany Bunch kill, and stayed within a point until Colony senior Emily Rich was able to give the Knights some breathing room with back-to-back aces.

Senior Allie Grazulis posted three of her match-high 24 kills late in the second game to help Colony hold on.

Colony took the early lead in the third game, but Sabrina Taiclet sparked the Patriots during a four-point run to help North Pole tie the score at 13-13.

Taiclet recorded a pair of aces during the run.

Middle hitter Meghan McKinnell tied the game at 17-17, and took the 18-17 lead with a Colony attack error.

North Pole stayed with the Knights, tying the score at 21-21, 22-22 and 23-23, but Colony was able to put together a few late points to preserve the win.

The Knights took a 24-23 lead when senior Siobhan Johanson redirected a Mackenzie Foran attack over the net. After a Colony attack error tied the game once again, Grazulis put a shot off the shoulder of McKinnell and Kara Larson recorded the final kill of the night.

Larson collected eight kills in the win and junior Sierra Hodgson added seven.

Senior Jackie Hamann supplied a match-high 30 digs, while senior April Bleicher added 15.

Colony continues nonconference action against West Valley on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Colony.

Lathrop 3, Houston 0

HOUSTON — The Lathrop Malemutes grabbed a 2-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-19) Mid-Alaska Conference win over the Houston Hawks at Houston High School on Thursday.

Houston continues Mid-Alaska play, hosting West Valley at 5 p.m. tonight and North Pole at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

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