Moose stay alive in NLC volleyball tourney

Palmer won a pair of matches on knockout Friday to stay alive in the Northern Lights Conference Volleyball Tournament in Kodiak.

Top-seeded Palmer swept Kenai 25-8, 25-9, 25-6 in the first loser-out match of the day and followed that with a 25-17, 25-15, 25-22 sweep of Colony nearly eight hours later.

In the process, Palmer sealed the conference's final berth into next week's 4A state tournament. No. 2 Soldotna and No. 4 Kodiak clinched state berths Thursday night.

"That is a relief," Palmer coach Steve Reynolds said. "We started out the day talking about how we have a fresh start. It wasn't necessarily the path that we wanted to take, but the good part of the path is that at least the end of this path still has a region championship at it."

Today at noon, Palmer has a rematch with Kodiak in the third-place match. The winner advances to face Soldotna in the 2 p.m. championship match. The Stars beat Kodiak 24-26, 26-24, 28-26, 25-21 in a semifinal Friday to advance to the title match.

Palmer used a balance offensive attack to end Colony's season. Mariah McNamara had nine kills, while Elliot Perkins and Kalei Depriest each had eight kills. Depriest added seven blocks.

"We struggled with nerves last night (Thursday) and I think that was the advantage of playing earlier this morning (Friday)," Reynolds said.

Colony's season closes after going 2-2 in tournament play.

"These girls played hard all season," Colony coach Amy Carter said. "I am very proud of this group of girls. They worked hard from the very beginning."

Allison Leigh led Colony with 14 kills, while Chelsea Friessen had 10 digs.

Earlier in the day, Colony ended Wasilla's season with a 25-22, 25-12, 21-25, 25-14 victory.