Palmer ends Wasilla's post season run

ANCHORAGE — It was closer to noon than midnight, but Wasilla's Cinderella run through the post season finally came to an end Friday at the hands of a familiar foe.

Palmer finished closed out the decisive fifth game on a 6-0 run to send their Valley rivals home from the state volleyball tournament in the fourth meeting of the season between the two schools.

In a match that featured plenty of clutch play on both sides of the net, Palmer was able to come up with the big shots late, getting two Nicole Kenney kills during the game-winning final run.

The win moved the Moose into a fourth-place match against Juneau-Douglas, while Wasilla wound up tied for seventh in the school's first appearance at state since 2003.

Both teams were attempting to rebound from first-round losses. Wasilla fell 3-1 to defending state champion South Anchorage Thursday, while the Moose were upset by Eagle River in a match that didn't end until late Thursday night.

“Five game matches take a lot out of you, both physically and mentally,” Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds said after the match, which began just before 11 a.m.

Kenney agreed.

“It was extremely tough, especially since we had such a hard loss the night before,” Kenney said.

Palmer's closing run came after Reynolds called timeout with his team trailing 10-9. Coming out of the huddle, Palmer senior setter Sarah Svedin urged her teammates to summon some inner strength with the match on the line.

“One last push, let's go,” Svedin said.

Svedin then went out and backed up her talk, serving the game's final five points to ice the win.

“I think we were all just so tired, we were like 'well, we came this far we might as well finish the game,'” Kenney said.

Palmer won the first game of the match before dropping the next two and having to take the final two games to advance.

Wasilla led for most of the first game, but Palmer staged a late rally to earn a tight 28-26 win on a game-winning unreturned serve by Geneva Ratcliff.

The Moose again came from behind in the second game, but this time the Warriors were able to respond. Wasilla led from the outset after opening on a 7-1 run, but the Moose surged ahead at 22-21. After calming down in a time out, the Warriors went on a 4-0 run to finish, closing out the game on an Alana Wright block of Svedin's spike attempt.

Wasilla never trailed in the third game, thanks to an explosion by junior middle hitter Jenna Johnson. Johnson picked up eight kills in the game, including an exclamation point slam to close things out, as Wasilla withstood a late Palmer surge to take the 25-22 win and a 2-1 lead.

Johnson, an all-state performer for Wasilla's state championship girls basketball team last season, showed she's no slouch on the volleyball court, picking up a 20 kills in the game. Senior Alana Wright added seven kills for Wasilla, which got 18 assists from senior Stephanie Bair and 17 from senior Kahle Ess.

Wasilla's defense was able to keep Palmer's offense in check through much of the match, as the Warriors employed several blockers to contain Kenney, Palmer's top outside hitter.

Wright and junior Kelsie Cline shadowed Kenney all match for Wasilla, which got eight block kills as team.

“We did a great job blocking today on the right side,” Simmons said.

With Kenney shut down on the outside, Ratcliff was Palmer's most productive scorer with a team-high 13 kills on the match. Svedin led the team with 22 assists, while Mikaela Bolling and Kenney each had 13 digs.

“Geneva kinda took over today,” Reynolds said.

In the fourth, Wasilla again failed to hold the lead, as Palmer seized the momentum by using a 12-3 closing run to pick up the 25-21 win and force a fifth game with Wasilla for the second time in a week. The teams also squared off in a five-game match in the semifinals of the Northern Lights Conference tournament last weekend, a Palmer win that set up the Moose's eventual NLC title run.

At the NLC tournament, Wasilla was able to rebound and earn a berth in the state tourney with a surprising third-place finish despite having a losing record during the regular season. This time, there was no next time for the Warriors.

Despite the tough losses at state, Simmons said she was proud of the way her team played during the season's home stretch.

“They did a great job these last two weekends,” Simmons said. “At regionals and state is when we were at our peak.”

Palmer, meanwhile, lived to fight another day.

“You don't want to be sitting in the bleachers on the last day of the tournament,” Reynolds said.

With a fourth-place match against Juneau looming, the Palmer coach seemed confident of his squad's chance of bringing home a win in its final match.

“I think everybody is going to be up for it.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com