Tough tests: Knights rise, Moose fall in first round of state volleyball tourney

ANCHORAGE — The Colony Knights faced the West Valley Wolfpack twice during the regular season. The Knights were swept by the Wolfpack in their first meeting, a match during an early-season road trip to the Interior. Late in the season, Colony was left on the short end of a five-set thriller with West Valley.

But as it turned out, the third time’s the charm for the Colony Knights.

Colony scored a 3-2 (16-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-18, 15-13) over the Wolfpack during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Volleyball Championships at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

“We played them for our senior night, and it went five games just like this one. It was really awesome to come back and play them and win,” Colony senior Sophie Hall said after the victory.

Sparked by early leads in each of the final two sets of the match, the Knights rallied to win a first-round state tournament match for the first time since 2009.

In the fifth game, Colony scored three quick points to take an early lead. After West Valley tied the game at 4, Colony went on an 8-2 run to take a 12-6 advantage. Hall and senior captain Mackenzie Everett each had aces during that stretch. Colony extended its lead to 14-8, but after serving for match point, West Valley used a run of its own to stay alive. The Wolfpack scored the next five points in the match to cut Colony’s advantage to 14-13.

“They had to earn it, not hope that West Valley was going to mess up,” Colony head coach Amy Carter said of what she told her team during a time out late in the match. “They had to earn that point.”

Sophomore Mikara Klawitter used a kill to cement the match for the Knights.

“It was a little stressful,” Hall said of trying to score the final points of the match to get the victory.

West Valley edged Colony 25-23 in the third game to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Despite dropping a tough set in the third game, the Knights jumped to a great start in the fourth game.

Senior Ashley Turcotte served eight straight points to open the fourth game, and helped give her team the 8-0 lead.

“Ashley’s an amazing server, probably one of our strongest servers,” Hall said of Turcotte. “We always love when Ashley goes up to serve.”

Turcotte scored an ace during that stretch, and a pair of Hall blocks were among Colony’s eight points to open the fourth game. Hall said that was a key period in the match.

“It definitely helped getting a head start,” Hall said.

Overall, Carter said she was pleased with the consistent effort of her team against the Wolfpack.

Hall led the Knights with 11 kills, eight blocks and four digs in the match. Turcotte collected seven kills, seven digs, four blocks and four aces. Everett recorded 25 assists and nine digs. Morgan Johnson finished with four kills and five blocks.

With the win, Colony moved into a winner’s bracket match against South Anchorage, the defending state champion. South scored a 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-10) win over the Knights Thursday evening.

Hall finished with five kills against South. Everett had 13 assists and nine digs. Whitley Mattern led Colony with 11 digs.

Colony returns to the court today to face either Palmer or Juneau-Douglas at 3 p.m. at the Alaska Airlines Center. Palmer suffered a 3-0 loss to Dimond, while Juneau dropped a 3-1 decision to East. The Palmer-Juneau meeting is an elimination match.

Dimond 3, Palmer 0

ANCHORAGE — Heading into the 2014 tournament, Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds was concerned about how his team would handle an 8 a.m. start for its first match of the tournament.

Despite the early hour, Reynolds thought his team started off well. But Dimond was able to emerge, and score a 3-1 (25-23, 25-12, 21-25, 25-15) win over the Moose during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Volleyball Championships at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

“We did alright the first game. We should have won the first game,” Reynolds said. “We had the lead a good portion of the game. We were playing well. It didn’t look like an early morning game. It didn’t look like we cared who we played. We were playing hard. I liked that.”

Dimond rallied to score the two-point win in Game 1. Even though the Moose won Game 3, 25-21, Reynolds thought Palmer’s best volleyball came in that first set.

“Dimond’s a good team. They served us tough,” Reynolds said. “They had big strings of points where we would struggle.”

Senior Mariah McNamara led the Moose with 15 kills and 11 digs in the match. Senior Leiah Reichel added a dozen kills. Senior Naomi Graham finished with 15 assists, and junior Carly Venzke chipped in 10 digs.

With the loss, Palmer moved into an elimination match with Juneau-Douglas today at 11 a.m. at the Alaska Airlines Center. The winner of the Palmer-Juneau bout faces Colony at 3 p.m.