Kodiak tops Palmer in battle of unbeatens

PALMER — Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds stopped short of calling consecutive losses to Kodiak and eye-opener. It was probably more of a timely reminder in the mind of the longtime Moose mentor.

Kodiak used a 3-1 (25-15, 25-18, 19-25, 25-15) win Saturday afternoon at Palmer High School to sweep the two-match series. The Bears scored a 3-0 sweep Friday.

Reynolds said he saw things during the weekend that the Moose will need to work on during the upcoming days to prepare for the Northern Lights Conference Championships, which start Thursday in Soldotna. Some of these things were similar to what he saw a week ago during the Dimond/Service Tournament in Anchorage.

“It wasn’t eye-opening. I think the Dimond/Service Tournament was more of a reality check for us. Hey, we still have a lot of work to do. It’s not going to be smooth sailing into the postseason,” Reynolds said.

On the positive side, Reynolds said the Moose have seen exactly what they need to work on to help them achieve their goal of a high finish in the region tournament and another trip to the state championships.

“It was good. It will keep us focused the last two days of practice. It also keeps us more focused on playing a good, clean game to even get into the region championship game, and to advance,” Reynolds said.

Palmer (8-2) is the No. 2 seed in the tourney and will receive a first-round bye. With its wins this weekend, Kodiak (10-0) wrapped up the top spot.

Reynolds said Palmer’s struggles started late in the first game of Friday’s match. The Moose led 24-20, but Kodiak rallied to score the 26-24 win.

“We played great in that first game, but we let that one get away,” Reynolds said after Saturday’s loss. “We were kind of our own worst enemy these last two matches. Last night, we had some ball control issues, unforced errors, and gave that one away at the end. We had that one in the bag, and unforced errors took their toll.”

Reynolds said he saw similar things in the final two games Friday and early Saturday as Kodiak built a two-game lead.

“We kept giving them easy balls back over, lot of free balls, off-speed things, just scramble plays trying to get the ball back over there. We did a great job clearing the ball from our side of the court. But then they just pounded it at us,” Reynolds said. “Today we had the same issue; wracking up unforced errors, shooting ourselves in the foot, which is really tough when you’re playing a good team.”

Palmer did show a spark in the third game of Saturday’s match, using a short run to break a 7-7 tie. A pair of Kodiak errors and a Cassidy Giese service ace gave the Moose a 10-7 lead, and Palmer stretched it to 15-9 with a Brecken Riekena kill.

Leiah Reichel gave Palmer a match-best eight-point lead with a kill late in the Game 3.

Mariah McNamara led the Moose with 13 kills and 14 digs in the match. Macey Buresh added 24 assists, and Giese collected 19 digs.

Hannah Wandersee led Kodiak with 13 kills and three aces. Isabelle Riina recorded a match-high 24 digs.

Prior to the series — which pitted a pair of undefeated teams — Reynolds said he was excited the Moose had a chance to cap the regular season with a tough draw. Despite the losses, Reynolds maintained that belief Saturday.

“I’m happy with the challenge. It will keep them hungry,” Reynolds said. “Everybody’s played enough to know if you play some sort of slow game at the end, hammer somebody in three, that does not prove anything,” Reynolds said.

Palmer will play either Soldotna or Kenai in the second round of the NLC tourney. The Stars (5-5) are the No. 3 seed, and the Kards (1-9) are seeded sixth. Kodiak will face either fourth-seeded Colony (4-6) or fifth-seeded Wasilla (2-8).

The full tournament schedule is expected to be released Monday.