Pair of Valley teams prepare for quarterfinals of tournament

PALMER — In many sports, Juneau-Douglas is often the unfamiliar foe of the state tournament. Many teams from Southcentral Alaska may not see the Southeast Conference power until the postseason. Regardless of how much is known about the Crimson Bears, they’re typically seen as a formidable opponent.

That’s the story for the Palmer Moose this year. Palmer has not seen much of the Bears, but longtime head coach Steve Reynolds is expecting a competitive match when the Moose open play against the Bears Thursday at 10 a.m. in the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank State Volleyball Championships at Chugiak High School.

“It’s been so long since we saw them,” Reynolds said. “But any game is a tough game to me.”

The Moose and Bears share some recent state volleyball history. Palmer beat Juneau 3-1 last year to place third in the 4A tournament. But this season, Palmer’s lone play against Juneau came during the first day of the West Spiketacular tournament early in the season.

“We played them tough enough to beat them. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but we definitely controlled the game,” Reynolds said. “But it was a long time ago. I don’t know if we learned a lot about them.”

As far as his own team, Reynolds said he is pleased to see where his team is at as the Moose prepare to play in the state tourney. He was also happy with how his squad performed at the conference tournament last weekend in Soldotna.

“It was a good weekend for us,” Reynolds said. “We saw a new, better level out of ourselves at times this weekend. Glimpses, where we say, oh we can play at a little bit higher level than we’ve been playing.”

Palmer knocked off Soldotna and top-seeded Kodiak en route to its spot in the NLC championship match. Kodiak was able to play its way back through the double-elimination bracket and beat Palmer to win the title. The Bears won 3-1, and followed with a 30-22 victory in the “if necessary” tiebreaker.

Reynolds said his team played very well during the 3-2 win over the Bears on Friday.

Reynolds said his outside hitters, led by senior Elliot Perkins, played very well in the tournament. Reynolds also noted the play of junior middle hitter Leiah Reichel.

Palmer heads into the state tournament after finishing as the Northern Lights Conference runner-up for the second consecutive year. The Moose are making their fifth straight trip to the state tournament, and their 13^th during Reynolds’ 14-year tenure as head coach of the program.

Palmer has also placed third in state in back-to-back years.

While Palmer is continuing its run in the state tournament, Colony is back in the state championships for the first time since 2010. The Knights drew Dimond, and will face the Cook Inlet Conference champions Thursday at 11:45 a.m.

Colony could be one of the most improved teams in the bracket. The Knights opened the season with a loss to Wasilla. After steady improvement, Colony entered the NLC tournament as the No. 4 seed and knocked off the rival Warriors during the final day of the conference championships to advance to state.

Palmer and Colony are both on the bottom side of the 4A bracket.

The Dimond/Colony winner and Palmer/Juneau winner will play Thursday at 5:15 p.m., the loser of each match will face off Friday at 11 a.m. Like the NLC tournament, the state event also features a true double-elimination bracket. The championship semifinals are slated for Friday at 7 p.m. The winner of that match will face the winner of the consolation side of the bracket Saturday at 6 p.m.