NLC to square off at volleyball tourney

Frontiersman

PALMER — A competitive Northern Lights Conference regular season promises to escalate into a blowout at this week’s NLC Championships at Colony High School.

Returning NLC champion Palmer comes into the tournament the No. 1 seed for the northern division after a pair of tough come-from-behind wins over No. 2 seed Kodiak. Although the No. 4 seed form the north and drawing south No. 1 seed Skyview in the opening round, Colony, with its tandem 6-footers Mary Kapperich and Allison Leigh, can play spoiler for any team at the regional tournament.

Then there’s the Wasilla Warriors, who came into the NLC Championships last year undefeated only to be upset by Palmer in the finals. This year, Wasilla has flown under the radar as Palmer, Kodiak and Skyview showed themselves the teams to beat. But a five-game upset of the rival Moose last week and expected return of senior powerhouse Sariah Tuisaula has WHS excited to make some noise, head coach Claudia Farias-Pinard said.

“I think we’re doing pretty good,” she said. “We’re going to go for it and try to get the title. We have been working hard and, like everybody else, you want to win the regionals.”

The team is also pumped up by the return of Tuisaula, who tore a knee ligament this past summer while participating in a volleyball clinic at Brigham Young University. She’s rehabbed the injury and is back just in time to make a run at qualifying for state, Farias-Pinard said.

“Sariah’s back and, even though she had the surgery, she’s been at practice and played this last weekend,” she said. “She always looks good and still has to make some adjustments. It’s all about confidence for her now.”

While the Warriors have adjusted to playing without one of the state’s best hitters, having her back “will really help us a lot,” the coach said. “It’s going to add a lot to the team, but really, we also played the whole month of October (without Tuisaula) and we won all our games.”

Also providing a confidence boost for the Warriors is last week’s five-game upset of Palmer, which is the only blemish on the conference record of the Moose.

“That (match) was a big boost, it was really good,” Farias-Pinard said. “Palmer was undefeated (in league). We never lost faith that we can make it to the championship in the region. What matters now is what we do at regional’s, but it was a really good boost for us.”

From a competitive standpoint, that loss has also been a rallying point for Palmer, head coach Steve Reynolds said. It showed that even good teams have to play their best every night, and the Moose responded with the two wins over Kodiak to secure the No. 1 seed.

“I’m at least happy with how we’re playing right now,” he said. “That’s a positive thing. I think we responded pretty well to that loss at Wasilla. That gets your attention and reminds you that if you play poorly, you lose. That’s the reality of the region tournament — you have to play your best three nights in a row.”

With Colony hosting the NLC Championships, it means Valley teams don’t have to travel, which is a bonus, Reynolds said.

“I like to be able to sleep in my bed and eat regular food and not watch the nutrition choices and sleeping — or lack thereof — on the road,” he said. “It’s wonderful to be at home, plus I get to watch all the other games.”

Reynolds also is impressed with the parity in the NLC this year, and said any of the teams are capable of winning any given match.

“All the second-round games especially are going to be just plain tough for everybody,” she said. “I say the second round, be we have upset people and have been upset in other years, so the region tournament is always unpredictable.”

Should Palmer beat Kenai in its first-round match Thursday and Wasilla get by Soldotna, the teams would face each other again in the semifinals Friday. That’s a match Reynolds said he thinks his players would like.

“I think they would like to play them again and prove that, hey, you can’t do that again,” he said.

He also believes Colony can be a dangerous team.

“They’re one of the teams I would include in that category of being dangerous,” Reynolds said. “You don’t have a team of 6-foot-plus girls and not call them dangerous.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Colony head coach Amy Carter, who said her Knights need to put together consistent, tough play at the tournament.

“We’re going to have to play our best games to get out of regions and get to state,” she said. “There’s a lot of strong teams, and it’s like this every year at regions. If you don’t come ready to play, you’re not going to make it out of regions.”

While the play up front from Klapperich and Leigh will be key to Colony’s success, they need solid performances from every player on the court, Carter said.

“They’re my big two, and I have to have good games out of them,” she said. “But, all nine of them have to have good games. (Klapperich and Leigh) can’t pass to themselves, so we have to have all nine playing competitive. We can beat anyone if everything’s right.”

NLC tournament play begins Thursday at 1 p.m., at Colony High School.

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

IF YOU GO

Northern Lights Conference Championships

Nov. 3-5, Colony High School

Thursday

Game 1: Wasilla (North No. 3 seed) vs. Soldotna (South No. 2 seed), 1 p.m.

Game 2: Palmer (1N) vs. Kenai (4S), 5 p.m.

Game 3: Kodiak (2N) vs. Homer (3S), 3 p.m.

Game 4: Colony (4N) vs. Skyview (1S), 7 p.m.

Friday

Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. loser Game 2, 1 p.m.

Game 6: Loser Game 3 vs. loser Game 4, 3 p.m.

Game 7: Winner Game 1 vs. winner Game 2, 5 p.m.

Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. winner Game 4, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Game 9: Winner Game 6 vs. loser Game 7, 9 a.m.

Game 10: Winner Game 5 vs. loser Game 8, 11 a.m.

Third-place: Winner Game 9 vs. winner Game 10, 3 p.m.

Championship: Winner Game 7 vs. winner game 8, 5:30 p.m.