Valley teams open state volleyball play Thursday

WASILLA — If there’s a silver lining to Wasilla’s third-place finish in the Northern Lights Conference Championships, the Warriors get to avoid Alaska volleyball powers Dimond and South Anchorage in the first round of the 4A state tournament.

Every state title game since 2005 has included either Dimond or South. In five of the last six seasons, it’s been a Dimond-South title match. Instead, thanks to the rotational bracket system ASAA uses to seed its state tournament, the Warriors draw Juneau-Douglas, and will face the Southeast Conference champions Thursday at 9:45 a.m. during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank State Volleyball Championships at the Alaska Airlines Center on UAA Campus in Anchorage.

“I did breathe a sigh of relief,” Wasilla head coach Josie Cannon said of avoiding the Lynx and Wolverines during the first round of the tourney. “I’m looking forward to playing Dimond and South at state. I didn’t want it in the first round.”

Cannon prefers where her team will start the 2016 tourney.

“I think it’s a good matchup,” Cannon said. “Juneau has a pretty strong defensive team this year.”

Cannon said the Warriors were able to see the Bears at the West Spiketacular, but Wasilla did not face Juneau is a best-of-5 regular-season match.

While the Warriors managed to avoid South and Dimond, Colony and Palmer drew the state powers.

Colony, which captured the NLC title last Saturday, opens the tournament facing South, the Cook Inlet Conference runner-up, Thursday at 8 a.m.

“South will be a tough first-round game. They have consistently been in the top two teams in the state for this season and also over the years,” Colony head coach Amy Carter said by email earlier this week. “Every team in state is going to be a tough match. That is the challenge and the fun of state. Every team comes ready to play and usually plays their best games of the season.”

Palmer meets Dimond, the defending state champion and the No. 1 seed from the CIC, Thursday at 1:15 p.m.

“Dimond will be a tough matchup right off the bat for us,” Palmer head coach Jayme DeHart said in an email.

But it’s not a challenge the Moose are shying away from.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend. We’re really starting to play well as a team, and we have a couple practices to see if we can get a little better before state,” DeHart said.

The other quarterfinal match pits Mid-Alaska Conference champion West Valley and Bartlett, the No. 3 seed from the CIC, Thursday at 11:30 a.m.

With a win Thursday, Wasilla would face either Colony or South Thursday at 3:15 p.m. in the winners bracket. With a loss, the Warriors would face either the Knights or Wolverines Friday at 8 a.m. in a loser’s bracket round of the double-elimination tourney. A Colony win would put the Knights in that 3:15 p.m. match against either Wasilla or Juneau, and a loss places the Knights in Friday’s 8 a.m. match against either Wasilla or Juneau.

A Palmer win would put the Moose in a winner’s bracket match against either West Valley or Bartlett Thursday at 5 p.m. With a loss, the Moose fall into the loser’s bracket to face either West Valley or Bartlett Friday at 9:45 a.m. in the loser’s bracket.

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