Palmer hosting NLC volleyball tourney; Knights are the top seed

Palmer High School is the home of the 2021 Northern Lights Conference Championships, and Colony will hit the court as the undefeated top seed.

“We’ve been doing well. We have a good record. But everybody’s strong. There have been a lot of matches like this,” Colony head coach Steve Reynolds said after a tough 3-1 win over rival Palmer last week.

Colony finished the regular season 8-0 in the NLC. Soldotna (0-8) is the fifth seed. But the biggest indicator of the parity in conference is the middle of the pack. Kodiak, Palmer and Wasilla all finished in a three-way tie at 4-4. Tiebreakers gave Kodiak the No. 2 seed, while the Moose and Warriors are seeded third and fourth.

During Colony’s win over Palmer during the final week of the regular season, the Moose won the third set 30-28. Reynolds said that has been a storyline in the NLC in 2021.

“We’re getting wins, but we’re going to extra innings,” Reynolds said. “We went long with Soldotna, a long one here (at Palmer), another with Kodiak. With Wasilla we’ve been close too.”

Fourth-seeded Wasilla and fifth-seeded Soldotna open the tourney with a match Thursday at 3 p.m. at PHS. The winner moves on to face Colony Thursday at 7 p.m. Kodiak and Palmer clash at 5 p.m.

The winners of the final two matches meet Friday in the first semifinal. The winner of that match advances to the NLC championship Saturday at 1 p.m.

The NLC uses a double elimination format.

Redington is hosting the Southcentral Conference Championships. The eight-team, double elimination tournament starts Friday.

The host Huskies are the No. 2 seed in the North Division and face Seward Friday at 10:30 a.m. in the firs round. Third-seeded Houston plays Houston Friday at noon.

Contact Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.