MARATHON GAME

PALMER — It may have taken 10 matches, but the Colony Knights found their killer instinct Thursday.

Having lost a couple of close matches recently, Colony came out on the wrong end of a marathon 33-31 game one against Lathrop at Colony High School before rebounding to sweep the next three games and the match, 3-1 (31-33, 25-20, 25-18, 25-18).

“We did some things really well,” said Knights head coach Amy Carter. “We’ve struggled finishing games, so we were able to finish two of those games decisively. We’ve gotten to 24 points and been beat a couple of times recently.”

That wasn’t on the agenda Thursday, especially for senior captain Shellina Irwin, who dominated at the net with 22 kills, three blocks and eight digs. Add 25 and 17 assists respectively for sophomores Olivia Martin and Maryann Zmuda, and the Knights showed some all-around depth.

Stepping up to fill the role of an injured teammate was Allison Leigh, who usually plays the front line, but spent time serving. Giving Leigh the ball seemed to be a good decision, as the sophomore recorded seven aces in the match.

“She normally doesn’t even serve in a game,” Carter said of Leigh. “She stepped up and played quite well tonight.”

While the Knights clamped down to win the final games, for awhile it didn’t seem as if either team would step up to close out the first game. A streak of six straight points served from Leigh helped Colony take a 15-11 lead, but the Malemutes would come back to tie the game at 15, then at 20, 22, 23 and on every point until the teams were tied at 31. A quick side-out would give Lathrop a 32-31 advantage, and junior Alisha Allen, who finished the game with four blocks, put down her only kill of the game for the win.

The victory was fleeting for Lathrop, however, as Colony tightened up its play to dominate the second game. The Knights jumped out to a 14-7 lead, then led 24-16 before putting the game away. Again, it was Leigh who provided the spark, serving for four critical points to pull ahead.

In the third game, Irwin continued her dominance, recording six kills, and sophomore Mary Klapperich started to feel her groove with five. As the match wore on, the Knights gained confidence, Irwin said.

At the end of the first game, Irwin said she was only thinking, “Please finish,” she said. “I was real tired and was ready for the next game.”

As were her teammates.

“Everything’s about confidence with our team, and when we don’t have it, we lose, and when we have it, we win,” she said. “We lost that first game, and it was a bad loss, because we know we can do better than that.”

Klapperich “got better as the games went on,” said Carter. “She was really hitting the ball in that last game.”

And the Knights needed it. Leading two games to one, Lathrop jumped out to a fast 7-1 lead in the fourth game. But the Colony front line proved too much, coming back to tie the game at nine, then Leigh stepped up at service with another five straight points to bump the lead to 16-11 and effectively knock out the Malemutes.

“I was very proud of them for being able to refocus and get things going again” after the first game, Carter said. “Lathrop plays well, so we had to really get it together to play strong after that.”

Carter hopes to carry that momentum into tonight’s match with North Pole when the Patriots travel to the Valley. First serve for the varsity is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.