Valley volleyball squads travel south for conference tournaments

WASILLA — Heading into their regular season finale against Palmer last week, the Wasilla Warriors were on a hunt for more than just a win over their rival. Wasilla was out to solidify a top-2 spot in the conference tournament.

And with a best-of-5 win over the Moose last Tuesday, clinched the No. 2 seed and a first-round by in the Northern Lights Conference Championships, which start Thursday in Kenai.

“We wanted to be the first or second (seed),” Wasilla head coach Josie Cannon said after the win over the Moose. “Ideally we want to be opposite of Kodiak in the bracket. They’re a strong team. I think we can beat them. I just want to play them later in the tournament.”

Kodiak clinched the top seed with a 10-0 mark in NLC regular season play. Wasilla clinched the second seed with its 7-3 record. Two of Wasilla’s three losses came at Kodiak. Wasilla also suffered a road loss to Kenai early in the season.

With their first-round byes, Kodiak and Wasilla avoid what’s expected to be a competitive first round of the conference tournament.

Palmer finished 4-6 in the regular season, and enters the tourney seeded fourth. The Moose draw the fifth seed, host Kenai (3-7) in the first round. Third-seeded Soldotna (5-5) plays sixth-seeded Colony (1-9) in the other first-round match.

“The region is so competitive, it doesn’t matter who you’re matched up with,” Palmer head coach Jayme DeHart said recently.

Palmer split with both Kenai and Soldotna during the regular season, and swept Colony. The Knights split with Kenai.

DeHart said the difficult challenge for Palmer will be playing host Kenai on its home floor during the first round of the tournament.

Palmer and Kenai open NLC play Thursday at 1 p.m. Soldotna and Colony follow at 3 p.m. The winners of those matches meet the teams with the byes Thursday evening. Kodiak faces the Palmer-Kenai winner Thursday at 6 p.m. Wasilla meets the Soldotna-Colony winner at 8 p.m.

Winners of the Thursday evening matches advance to the NLC semifinals, Friday at 5 p.m. The winner of that match earns the first of the NLC’s three automatic bids to the state tournament.

The NLC has a double-elimination bracket, and teams that lose on Thursday can still work through the loser’s bracket in search of a state tournament berth.

The NLC championship match is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.

The ASAA state volleyball championships begins Nov. 12 at UAA’s Alaska Airlines Center.

Hawks draw host in 3A tourney

Palmer’s not the only Valley team to draw the host in the first round of a conference volleyball tournament.

Houston drew Nikiski in the first round of the Southcentral Conference Volleyball Championships and will play the Bulldogs Friday at 1 p.m. at Nikiski High School.

Houston (2-8) is the No. 5 seed in the tournament. Nikiski (5-5) is the No. 4 seed. Third-seeded Homer (6-4) and sixth-seeded Seward (2-8) Friday at 3 p.m. in the first round.

Top-seed Anchorage Christian School (8-2) will face the Houston-Nikiski winner Friday at 5 p.m. The Homer-Seward winner meets second-seeded Grace Christian School (8-2) Friday at 7 p.m.

The top three teams from the tournament will advance to the state championships, which start Nov. 12 in Anchorage. Teams that advance to the conference finals earn two of the automatic berths. The winner of the bracket’s third-place match also advances to state.

The conference title match is slated for Saturday at 4 p.m. at Nikiski.

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