State volleyball tourney ends for Palmer, Colony

CHUGIAK — There aren’t many coaches who could walk off the court after being knocked out of the state volleyball tournament after a tough five-game match with a smile on his face. But then, there aren’t many coaches like Palmer’s Steve Reynolds.

The longtime Moose head coach sported a grin while talking about his team after an intense 3-2 loss (25-22, 17-25, 24-26, 25-22, 12-15) to host Chugiak High Friday during second-day action of the ASAA/First National Bank State Volleyball Championships. Reynolds said that was because, although Palmer wanted to advance, he was happy with a gutsy effort from a team that played through the last point.

“As a coach or player, you always hate to lose the five-game match, especially if you get knocked out of the state tournament,” Reynolds said. “But, if you have to, I would rather get knocked out playing a game like that than play poorly. I was happy with how we played.”

As a final match for the six seniors on the Moose team, Friday’s was an honorable showing, the coach said. A pair of those seniors — setter Macey Buresh and libero Cassidy Giese — saved their best performances for the tournament. In the loss to the Mustangs, Buresh recorded a season-high 50 assists, while Giese had a season-high 23 digs. With 17 kills and four aces for junior Mariah McNamara and another 15 kills for senior Elliot Perkins, on paper, the Moose boast a stat line that usually comes with a win.

The difference came down to inspired net play for Chugiak and Palmer’s tendency to start games slow, Reynolds said. Getting out of the game a few points behind is something the Moose have been doing all season long, he said, but on Friday, it cost them.

“We’ve changed some things around with the lineup and started some different rotations trying to get out of doing that, but we did that this season,” Reynolds said. “We have slow starts and have to play from behind.”

That didn’t hurt Palmer in the first game. The Moose fell behind 6-3 early, and didn’t take their first lead of the game until they had a 17-16 advantage. The teams volleyed through the end with Palmer taking an early 1-0 lead, 25-22.

Rather than get down about dropping the first game, Chugiak turned the tide in game two, streaking out of a fast 9-1 lead and dominating at the net. Junior Rachel Gregg and senior Natalie Stark combined for six kills and 10 blocks in the second game, setting the tone for dominating performances on the front line for the rest of the match. Gregg finished with a match-high 21 kills and 11 blocks, while Stark added eight kills and nine blocks.

“That second game they blocked us a ton,” Reynolds said, adding he wasn’t worried Palmer would look past Chugiak to a potential match against Northern Lights Conference rival Kodiak for the winner. Kodiak advanced in the tournament with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-17) win earlier Friday over Colony High.

“I think they were pretty focused on this game,” he said. “We beat (Kodiak) the one time and we discovered a few things that worked, so sure, it would’ve been nice to have another crack at them.”

Wrapping up his 14th season as Palmer head coach, Reynolds praised his 2013 squad.

“I love the game, and I love the kids,” he said. “I never get tired of the girls or the game.”

After losing the second game and dropping game three 26-24 to fall behind 2-1 in the match, Reynolds said it would’ve been easy for the Moose to lose heart and just limp out of the tournament. Instead, they rallied to win game four 25-22 and force a fifth game.

“It would be pretty easy to get demoralized, especially with Chugiak blocking so well,” he said. “It could be easy for the hitters to get demoralized, but they didn’t.”

Although Palmer missed a chance to play NLC champion Kodiak for a final time, cross-town rival Colony didn’t. The Knights saw their state tournament run ended Friday afternoon by the Crimson Bears following 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 28-26) win over Juneau-Douglas earlier in the day.

For a squad that finished third in the NCL and entered the state tournament with an 8-7 regular season record, head coach Amy Carter said she was pleased with how her team represented.

“This is a fun group of girls and they’ve worked their butts off this year,” Carter said. “I’m proud as can be of them. We were 8-7 coming into this tournament, and they pulled together as a team, worked hard every day playing their butts off. Every one of them has improved significantly all season long. That’s what we work for. … I was proud of how they played today and yesterday. We made state, and we haven’t done that for a couple of years, so that was nice to do that.”

Against Kodiak, setter Mackenzie Everett finished with 17 assists and five digs. Ashley Turcotte finished with five kills and also had 13 digs, while Sophie Hall led the Knights at the net with seven kills and four blocks.

Colony will graduate three seniors — Chelsea Friesen, Zoe Headley and Brooke Nezaticky — while looking to return nine juniors as seniors in 2014. Having experience in the state tournament is helpful, Carter said.

“It’s always good for them to get here and know what this competition is all about.”

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269

or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.