NLC Volleyball Championships: Moose rally, outlast Warriors if 5-game semifinal thriller

PALMER — Before hitting the hardwood for its semifinal date with rival Wasilla, the Palmer volleyball team watched the film, “Glory Road,” as a team.

It’s a basketball movie — a true story about Texas Western College’s bumpy road to a 1966 NCAA championship —but when the Moose faced their own adversity, the Palmer players looked to the sports flick for inspiration.

Palmer, sitting in a two-game hole, battled back to score a 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 16-14) win over the Warriors during the Northern Lights Conference Volleyball Championships semifinals at Colony High on Friday.

“Before the game we watched ‘Glory Road’, the basketball movie to pump up ourselves,” Palmer senior Morgan Morfe said. “We were like ‘Glory Road’, we can do it, we can push through.”

Palmer used wins during the final three sets to pave its own glory road, and route to the conference championship match, where the Moose will face Kodiak Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The Moose played their way down that road, thanks in part to the flawless hitting of senior Kalene Smith, and back row play of Morfe and libero Lily Cullers.

But during the first two games of the match, the Moose were teetering on disaster, as the Warriors were stellar.

Wasilla hitters Sariah Tuisaula, Haley Taylor and Jolee Fife powered the Warriors through Game 1, and Leah Taylor served three aces to help the Warriors launch to a seemingly crippling 13-1 lead in Game 2.

But as the Warriors smelled sweep and the Moose feared the worse, Palmer chipped away at the advantage and the momentum.

“I think initially everyone was terrified it was going to be some score like 25-3 and we were going to have to live with it,” Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds said. “It was just a matter of chipping away at it.”

Palmer used a 7-1 run to narrow the gap to 14-8, and after a Haley Taylor kill gave Wasilla the 21-14 advantage, the Moose scored seven straight points to tie the score at 21.

Wasilla capped the game with a four-point run to win the set 25-21, but the Moose felt that rally was key to their victory.

“We would have been done period,” Reynolds said, if the Moose didn’t come back in the second game. “I think if we would never have gotten that game respectable, we would have been done.”

Morfe said Reynolds also gave the Moose an added sense of confidence after that game.

“After the game our coach said whenever someone looks at the scorebook it will always say 25-21. Nobody will ever know you can back from 13-1,” Morfe said.

Morfe also said the Moose were confident in their ability to rally.

“One of our strengths is comebacks,” Morfe said. “After we lost those two games, it was like, hmmm, this is what we do best.”

Both teams used terrific defensive efforts to extend the match to five games.

Warrior stalwarts — such as Haley Taylor, Kayla Bell and Kayla Binggeli — helped Wasilla keep play alive on the back line. Morfe and Cullers helped the Moose combat Wasilla’s talented strikers.

“I thought their defense was good throughout the night,” Reynolds said. “Our defense, I felt, got better as the night went on.”

Cullers, a first-year varsity libero, led the Moose with 16 digs.

“I really commend Lily. She’s the best libero I’ve ever played with,” Morfe said. “She scraps for every single ball. I’m so proud of her. She owned the court.”

Smith enjoyed a career night on the front line for Palmer, finishing with 14 kills and no hitting errors.

“She’s a senior. She’s smart and she sees things,” Reynolds said. “Without checking stats, that’s probably her best night ever.”

Smith scored the final kill of the night, placing a ball in a hole of the middle of the Wasilla defense. Smith used similar plays to score a handful of points throughout the night.

“She’s the queen of tipping,” Morfe said.

Palmer is now one win away from its third straight NLC crown, and punched its state tourney ticket with the victory over the Warriors. Wasilla is still alive in the race for a spot in state, but must play through the consolation bracket. The Warriors face Skyview Saturday at 9 a.m. in an elimination match. With a win over the Panthers, Wasilla would move forward to the third-place match. The winner of that match advances to state.

In the other semifinal, Kodiak used its own thrilling win to edge host Colony 3-2. The Knights will face Soldotna Saturday at 11 a.m. in the consolation semifinals.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.