Panther netters edge Moose

PALMER -- Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds had a calm and positive attitude following his squad's 3-1 (15-3, 10-15, 10-15, 12-15) loss to Skyview Saturday.

The loss coupled with the temporary loss of Emily Sakis, a candidate for the region's player of the year award, might have caused some coaches to immediately hit the nearest bottle of antacid.

Reynolds was quick to reassure that the Sakis' injury was minor and his team showed many positives during the match.

"I am never happy about a loss, but I am thrilled with the way they played," Reynolds said. "They fought and they never gave up."

Palmer cruised to a 15-3 win in the first game and was on its way to a win in the second game, when Sakis was hurt. The senior middle hitter went up for the ball during play and landed akwardley near the net. Sakis was helped off the court in obvious discomfort.

According the Reynolds, Sakis should be back on the hardwood soon. Sakis is expected to be out for a week, but ready for the regional tournament Nov. 8-9.

Down 10-9 in the second game, the Panthers were able to make a quick comeback against the startled Moose. Skyview's Jenny Carpenter notched four kills and a block to lead the Panthers in the comeback.

Jessica Pempek, part of a platoon of players used to fill in for Sakis, notched an ace on the first serve of the third game to restore some momentum for Palmer.

"They were a little stunned at first," Reynolds said. "This is the first time we have had to play without Emily. They pulled together really nice though."

Pempek, Aslynn Jones and Ashley Mills each saw a significant boost in their playing time in the match and Megan Tompkins stepped up with possibly her finest hitting performance of the season.

Tompkins notched 10 kills in the final two games of the match.

"Megan had a big game, she stepped up more than anyone," Reynolds said. "Most of the time her play goes unnoticed. We don't usually look to her to be one of our main hitters."

Pempek's ace and a Cate Jelle kill gave Palmer a quick 2-0 lead before Skyview jumped back into the lead. Jayme Irvine notched a service ace to tie the game at 3-3. The Panthers snapped the tie and advanced to a 7-3 lead behind two kills and four Palmer attack errors.

Jessie Macknicki registered consecutive kills and a service ace to help Palmer tie the game at 7-7. Skyview again broke the tie and advanced to a 12-7 lead. A Macknicki kill combined with a devastating block from Jelle cut the Panther lead to 12-10. Following the Palmer block, the Panthers registered four consecutive kills to take the game 15-10.

The fourth and final game played out similar to the third, with Skyview and Palmer trading back leads before the Panthers were able to take the game.

This is the first match that Palmer has played more than three games in over a month. The last time the Moose went four games with a team was Sept. 10 against Colony. This is only the third time that Palmer has gone to four games this season. The Moose have yet to see a five-game match.

"With tournaments we have not seen a lot of long matches yet this year," Reynolds said.

Macknicki led the Moose with 11 kills in the match. Palmer had 12 service aces in the match, seven in the first game. Tompkins led the squad with three aces, in addition to her 10 kills.

Sakis registered five kills, a block and a service ace in the first game alone.

Carpenter led the Panthers with 25 kills.

This match pitted the top team from the northern division (Palmer) of the region with the top team from the southern division (Skyview) in the region against each other. The teams could possibly meet again at the region tournament.

"If things go according to plan with the bracketing, we will see them again," Reynolds said.