Stars beat Moose for title

KODIAK — Palmer’s bid for a fourth-straight Northern Lights Conference volleyball title fell just short Saturday afternoon in Kodiak.

Playing in their fifth match in three days, the Moose dropped a 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 19-25, 25-19) decision to second-seeded Soldotna in the championship match.

Palmer advanced to the title match with a hard-fought sweep of upstart Kodiak 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-23) earlier in the day.

Palmer coach Steve Reynolds said his team wasn’t tired after playing so many matches, Soldotna just beat them.

It was the second time Palmer has been beaten by Soldotna this season.

“I thought we were a little sluggish when we started that match,” Reynolds said. “That could have just been because we played and had that little break.

“But, I thought they came back and fought hard. Had we got into that ‘if’ game, tiredness would have been an issue.”

A Palmer victory would have forced a best-of-3 match to decide the champion.

Behind NLC Most Valuable Player Kaille Skjold, Soldotna made sure an “if necessary” match wasn’t needed.

The senior knocked down 18 kills and 16 blocks — four for points — to give Soldotna the school’s first outright conference title.

“As far as we can recall, Soldotna has never won an outright conference title,” Soldotna coach Bruce King said. “Today, that was the goal that we wanted to achieve — to get Soldotna its first conference tournament. I think it meant a lot to the girls.”

Despite the loss, Palmer will join Soldotna and Kodiak at next week’s 4A state tournament at Wasilla’s Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center.

Palmer’s opening-round state game will be against the Cook Inlet Conference champion.

Reynolds might have downplayed playing five matches in three days, but King said it definitely was a factor in the outcome.

“That is a big deal. We could tell at times they were tiring out,” King said. “They had to play two more matches than us in the last couple of days. Same with Kodiak. There were some tough matches that wore some kids out. We were lucky enough to get more rest than everybody else.”

Elliot Perkins paced Palmer with 20 kills and seven aces. Perkins was named to the all-conference first team along with teammates Lilly Cullers and Macey Buresh.

Cullers had 14 digs, while Buresh dished out 40 assists in the championship match.

After dropping the first two sets, Palmer bounced back to steal the third.

Soldotna erased Palmer’s momentum by scoring the first six points in the fourth. The Moose pulled to within 19-18, but costly errors put a halt to the comeback attempt.

Palmer 3, Kodiak 0

Brecken Riekena collected 10 kills to help Palmer to a 26-24, 25-17, 25-23 victory.

Jessica Cole had eight kills, while Kalei DePriest tallied nine blocks.

Northern Lights

Conference awards

MVP — Kaille Skjold, Soldotna

Coach of the Year — Bruce King, Soldotna

First team

Heide Westerman, Soldotna; Elliot Perkins, Palmer; Maryann Zmuda, Colony; Kaycee Munn, Soldotna; Hannah Wandersee, Kodiak; Natalie Kress, Soldotna; Lily Cullers, Palmer; Allison Leigh, Colony; Macey Buresh, Palmer.

Second team

Carissa Cannon, Kodiak; Mariah McNamarra, Palmer; Cassie Ross, Kenai; RJ Aquino, Kodiak.

Honorable mention

Ashleyn Dorn, Wasilla; Danielle Willis, Kodiak; Olivia Bennett, Kodiak; Brooke Deans, Colony; Megan Pyles, Kodiak; Cassidy Edwards, Wasilla.