Prep volleyball: Moose sweep Knights

Sept. 15, 2006

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

PALMER - Rivalries have a way of speeding things up.

Palmer High School head volleyball coach Steve Reynolds admits some of the matches the Moose have played this season have not exactly had the quickest of pace.

But that was not the case in Palmer's 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-19) win over the Colony Knights at PHS on Tuesday.

&#8220We expected more of a fast pace against Colony,” said Palmer junior outside hitter Nicole Kenney, who posted eight kills and a team-high eight digs in the win over the Knights. &#8220They're a good team, and we expected that.”

Not only was the pace of the match different, Reynolds said, the Moose had to alter what they had done on the court this season, to defend Colony's strengths.

&#8220We have been doing some stuff a little different with Colony,” Reynolds said. &#8220They don't give you any free balls. We didn't have many opportunities to set up an easy play.”

Reynolds said traditionally Colony is a tough serving team. That is always something to look for.

Colony middle hitters Hannah Curtis and Kara Larson also showed the potential to give the Moose fits, combing for 15 kills in the game. Curtis led the squad with eight.

Stephanie Houser led the Moose with 10 kills and four blocks.

Setter Sarah Svedin added six aces to her team-high 16 assists. Svedin scored three of her aces during a seven-point run, late in the first game. She helped the Moose increase their lead from 17-13 to 24-13.

Palmer is riding momentum, at least partly, gained by winning the West Valley Invitational last week in Fairbanks. Reynolds said the Moose saw solid competition, and showed their ability to recover from a deficit.

&#8220We managed to win all of our games, and we trailed pretty badly in a couple games up there,” Reynolds said. &#8220Lathrop and West Valley, they had us in a couple of big holes. We were able to come back and play our way out of them. We were down eight points in one game, and maybe six or seven in another, late in the game. In rally scoring to be down that far, that's kind of a big hole to dig out of. It's a big confidence booster to be able to do that.”

Palmer (4-0 overall, 1-0 in Northern Lights Conference play) hosts Anchorage Christian School in a nonconference match on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., and state power Juneau-Douglas on Thursday at

6:30 p.m.

Colony (1-4, 0-3) visits Wasilla on Tuesday, before traveling to Homer to compete in the Peninsula Challenge on Friday.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.