Scrappy Palmer squad places 3rd at state tournament

WASILLA — With 10 seniors and a dominating offense, Dimond High School was the polished jewel of this weekend’s state volleyball tournament. But it was the play of a tenacious young Palmer squad that showed the Moose are real diamonds in the rough.

The Lynx dominated the state much of the season, finishing with a perfect 16-0 regular season record and eventually topped rival South Anchorage to win the class 4A state crown Saturday night.

Then there’s Palmer, the Northern Lights Conference sleeper team that battled its way back to place third at the ASAA/First National Bank State Volleyball Championship at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla. With only two seniors — Jessica Cole and libero Lily Cullers — the Moose battled back after a tournament-opening three-game loss to the Lynx on Thursday.

That battle included four games over 24 hours. The only hiccup that stopped the Moose from advancing to the championship finals?

Another showdown with Dimond Saturday afternoon.

Although the Moose lost in three games (25-13, 25-15, 25-23), head coach Steve Reynolds said he’s pleased with how Palmer played and with a third-place finish.

“I’m very happy about our finish,” he said. “I think I would sound stupid if I said I wasn’t happy. We’re competing with a bunch of teams that are senior-laden. I’m super-excited we’re competing with all these teams and we’re still relatively young.”

That Dimond, which boasts an experienced lineup of heavy hitters, had to work to put Palmer away is a good sign, especially because the Moose were playing their fourth match in less than a day, Reynolds said. The experience has made the coach re-think his position on the state’s new double-elimination bracket.

Palmer came through the loser’s bracket at the Northern Lights Conference Championships to qualify for state, and battled through the loser’s bracket again to place at the tournament.

“Overall, I’ve always wished there was better seeding for the state tournament, because often there’s some odd pairings,” he said. “I was never a proponent of the change to a double-elimination thing. That being said, having gone through it now, I think it can at least sort of fix some of the seeding. I like that part of it. To begin with I wasn’t a huge fan, but now I think I’d say I’m a fan of double elimination.”

It’s what gave Palmer another shot at the Lynx in the third-place game, but it was a little too much experience and too much Leah Swiss. One of only two underclassmen for the Lynx, the junior led the match with 15 kills and eight blocks. Janelle Feller added eight kills and 15 assists for Dimond.

After being swept by South Anchorage in the semifinals Friday, Dimond head coach Kim Louwers said she was worried about how her team would rebound against Palmer on Saturday.

“Actually, I was very concerned, because we’ve lost a match and came back from it, but we haven’t lost a match like we did last night. How our team was going to react today, there’s always a little bit of nervousness.”

She was also impressed with Palmer.

“They’re pretty scrappy on defense and they have a good little setter (Macey Buresh) and they have two pretty good outside hitters,” Louwers said.

One of those hitters is junior Elliot Perkins, who led the Moose with 13 kills against Dimond and set an aggressive tone for Palmer throughout the tournament, Reynolds said.

“We have a bunch of juniors and only two seniors,” he said. “They all made some big improvements. Elliot, her last two weeks of the season were her best two weeks, and as a coach that’s what you want — for them to peak at the right time. Lily also made some big improvements the last two weeks.”

That Palmer played at a high level is why Perkins, who was named a Subway Outstanding Player of the Game, said she could smile after Saturday’s loss to Dimond.

Playing through the loser’s bracket “really was a lot of volleyball,” she said. “But we wanted to play more, we wanted to fight for it. I think we did really good. We improved and we worked really hard and I think we did well this season. I’m really happy with our team.”

She also is looking forward to next year returning with almost the same squad.

Palmer 3, Kodiak 2

That battle Perkins said Palmer was looking forward to began Friday afternoon against Northern Lights Conference rival Kodiak. The Moose won, but it took five games and extra points to top the Bears (25-20, 25-22, 14-25, 21-25, 19-17).

Led by Perkins’ 15 kills and nine digs, the Moose jumped out to a fast 2-game lead and looked to be on the verge of a sweep.

That’s when the Bears came out of hibernation, led by the aggressive play of Hannah Wandersee, who finished the match leading all players with 16 kills and nine block. From the back row, she also had a massive defensive effort with 36 digs. Along with eight kills and seven blocks from Megan Pyles, Kodiak roared back to not only win games three and four, but to sprint out to a 7-1 lead in the deciding fifth game.

“Hannah’s always an outstanding player for us,” Kodiak head coach Amy Willis said. “She gives 100 percent, 187 percent a lot of the time, wo when Hannah steps up and makes a big play, it not just helps her, it helps the rest of the team.”

Willis said making an appearance at the state tournament isn’t enough to satisfy the Bears.

“Kodiak’s not satisfied with just getting to state anymore. This is our second time here in two years. Before that, it had been quite awhile. Getting here means a lot, but doing something while we’re here is important, so somebody can’t think we’re a team to be overlooked. We want to make a difference.”

Reynolds credited Kodiak for almost making the comeback and taking the final game to 19-17.

“Our first two games we played really, really well. Then the next two games they played really well and we played horrible,” he said, adding he’s stumped as to the reason for the change in momentum. “Asking me what I think happens in the minds of teenage girl athletes, I don’t know — to go from playing so well, then that third game to having something like 15 unforced errors.”

Palmer 3,

East Anchorage 1

The Moose followed their win over Kodiak with another win a few hours later Friday 3-1 against the East Anchorage Thunderbirds (25-16, 25-27, 25-21, 25-16).

Following the Kodiak win, Palmer came out aggressive, again led by Perkins, who finished with a game-high 16 kills and 13 digs. Brecken Riekena added 14 kills to help the Moose dominate the net, while Kalei Depriest stuffed the Thunderbirds with seven blocks.

“It was a good overall match,” Reynolds said. “Elliot played well and it was one of her better defensive matches, too. Brecken played well, Kalei had a good match, too. She was doing good things at the net.”

Palmer 3,

Juneau-Douglas 1

Although Palmer wasn’t able to exact revenge on Dimond for the loss to start the tournament, the Moose did exorcise one demon in Juneau-Douglas Saturday morning. The Crimson Bears beat Palmer in five games at the beginning of the season, but when the teams met at the state tournament in a do-or-die game, the Moose came out on top 3-1 (25-13, 24-26, 25-15, 25-20).

The win was enough to impress Crimson Bears head coach Lesslie Knight.

“Palmer’s improved a ton since we saw them at the beginning of the year, and they don’t even look like the same club,” she said. “That’s what you want to see from any team. They rose to the occasion and did a great job.”

Along with the power offense of Perkins, Knight also complemented the play of Moose setter Macey Buresh, saying that “she’s a pretty phenomenal setter.”

Odds and ends

Prior to Palmer’s first state tournament game, the Moose had a special visitor, coach Reynolds said. Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent Deena Paramo came to the Menard sports center bearing good-luck goodie bags for his players.

“That was totally cool and unexpected,” he said. “That was a cool gesture on the district’s part and hopefully we represented the Valley well.”

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

4A State Volleyball

Nov. 8-10, Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center

Nov. 8

Match 1 – Juneau-Douglas def. Kodiak 3-2 (18-25, 18-25, 25-11, 25-22, 15-7)

Match 2 – Dimond def. Palmer 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-14)

Match 3 – East Anchorage def. West Valley 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-16, 25-18)

Match 4 – South Anchorage def. Soldotna 3-2 (25-17, 21-25, 25-16, 16-25, 15-13)

Match 5 – Dimond def. Juneau-Douglas 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-21)

Match 6 – South Anchorage def. East Anchorage 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-19)

Nov. 9

Match 7 – Soldotna def. West Valley 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 27-25)

Match 8 – Palmer def. Kodiak 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 14-25, 21-25, 19-17)

Match 9 – Juneau-Douglas def. Soldotna 3-2 (16-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-21, 15-12)

Match 10 – Palmer def. East Anchorage 3-1 (25-16, 25-27, 25-21, 25-16)

Match 11 – South Anchorage def. Dimond 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-17)

Nov. 10

Match 12 – Palmer over Juneau-Douglas 3-1 (25-13, 24-26, 25-15, 25-20)

Match 13 – Dimond def. Palmer 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-23)

Match 14 – Dimond def. South Anchorage 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-22)

Match 15 – Dimond def. South Anchorage 30-27 (“If Game” to 30 points)