Palmer, Wasilla make most of down time

PALMER — A pattern has formed within the Palmer High volleyball schedule. Play Wasilla, and then it’s time for a long break.

Early in the season, after a meeting with the Warriors, the Moose went full two weeks without an official match. Tuesday, the Moose started another break in the schedule with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-16, 25-16) win over the Warriors at Palmer High School.

As Steve Reynolds stood nine days away from his team’s next match, after the Wasilla win, the longtime Palmer High head coach was feeling good about Palmer’s most recent run of volleyball.

“I like where we’re at, I like how the team is playing,” Reynolds said of a Palmer squad which has won its first seven matches of the season and has a pair of top-3 finishes in regular-season tournaments. “I don’t mind that we have a break now so we can work on some things, and then we have the road trip to check out the progress.”

Palmer takes a three-match tour of the Kenai Peninsula starting Oct. 10, with scheduled matches against Nikiski, Soldotna and Kenai.

Macey Buresh collected 32 assists, Leiah Reichel finished with six kills and Cassidy Giese recorded 16 digs to help Palmer improve to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Northern Lights Conference. Last weekend, Palmer finished tied for third in the Gold Bracket of the West Spiketacular, one of the state’s biggest volleyball tournaments of the regular season.

“I like what we did at the West Spiketacular. Day 1 was rough, but Day 2, we turned the corner, started looking like a much better team,” Reynolds said.

Palmer finished 10-2 in pool play before advancing to the Gold Bracket. The Moose beat Service, but suffered a loss to NLC rival Kodiak in the quarterfinals.

Despite the loss to Kodiak, Reynolds said it was good to see the Bears, a team that could contend for a conference title.

Palmer is scheduled to host Kodiak Nov. 1-2, the final weekend of the regular season.

“I was certainly happy to see them, go three games with them, see how we match up,” Reynolds said. “I was very happy to get an early look.”

Wasilla fell to 2-3 in the NLC with the loss. Despite the loss, Wasilla head coach Claudia Farias Pinard said she continues to be happy with the progress of her team.

“They’ve improved since the beginning. They’ve been doing much better than what we saw today,” Farias Pinard said.

Farias Pinard said she’s been particularly impressed with her senior libero, Aimee Bushnell.

“My libero is playing a big role, she took the leadership of this team,” Farias Pinard said. “Good passer, good defense, she’s done a great job for this team.”

Amber Sizemore led the Warriors with eight kills Tuesday. Cassidy Edwards and Ashlynn Dorn finished with four each.

Wasilla has a week off between matches. The Warriors host Grace Christian Tuesday, before making the trip south to face NLC rivals Kenai and Soldotna next weekend.

Contact Jeremiah Bartz at 352-2273 or sports@frontiersman.com.