Warriors edge Moose

PALMER — It’s been a busy few days for Wasilla. But the Warriors made some big strides.

After scoring a runner-up finish in the storied West Spiketacular over the weekend, Wasilla edged rival Palmer 3-2 in a key Northern Lights Conference volleyball match Tuesday night at Palmer High School.

“They really wanted it. They did some awesome stuff,” Wasilla head coach Katie Oxspring said after the win.

Sierra Baird and Jada Shultz each collected a key kill late in a decisive fifth game in which neither team led by more than three points. It was all part of a massive rally for the Warriors. Palmer won the first two sets in the match and led 14-9 in Game 3.

“We like to take a while to get going. It’s kind of the frustrating thing to overcome,” Oxspring said. “Palmer’s a good team. They deserved to win those first two games.”

Wasilla was able to put together a 5-0 run, that included a Taylin Fraker ace and Josie Schachle kill, to tie the score at 14. Wasilla trailed again until a Palmer attack error tied the score at 19. After Schultz tipped the ball over the net to give the Warriors a 20-19 advantage, Wasilla was able to hold a slim lead for the remainder of the pivotal third game. Wasilla forced a fifth game with a 25-20 win in Game 4. A key stretch came midway through the game. Wasilla trailed 17-15, but took a 18-17 lead with three straight kills by Baird.

Kristen Beames had 21 kills and 13 digs to lead the Moose, and Talia Villnerve added 13 kills, 4 aces and 16 digs

The Wasilla win comes a week after Wasilla suffered a tough 3-1 loss to its other chief rival, Colony, on its home court, and days following the second-place finish at the West Spiketacular.

“It was a great weekend,” Oxspring said of her team’s play in the two-day tourney. “We had a group of girls that fought really hard.”

Wasilla suited only nine, also sending athletes to C-team and junior varsity tournaments. Despite that, Wasilla finished 7-1 in pool play during the first day. In bracket play, Wasilla beat Juneau-Douglas (2-1), Chugiak (2-1) and East (2-1).

“We had nine girls that played so hard,” Oxspring said.

State power South Anchorage beat Wasilla 2-0 in the best-of-3 finals.

“We beat every team that we needed to beat, but South is just better than us right now,” Oxspring said. “It’s not that we can’t learn to play with a team like South. They just outplayed us.

“I’ve never been more happy with a second-place finish.”

Palmer, Colony and Houston were also part of the Spiketacular field. The Moose finished fifth. Palmer opened with a 2-0 win over Kodiak and bounced back from a 2-1 loss to host West with wins over Service (2-1) and Colony (2-0).

Colony finished seventh, and Houston was 17th.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.