Sports

Are you ready for some volleyball?

Get ready for wall-to-wall volleyball.

The sport will make spiketacular use of the new Alaska Airlines Center, where on Saturday two high school state champions will be crowned and two nationally ranked Division II volleyball teams will meet in a match with playoff implications.

This thing is so big it needs three gyms in two buildings.

Beginning with Barrow's match against Valdez at 8 a.m. Thursday, teams in the Class 3A state tournament will play first-round matches at the old Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

At the same time at the nearby Alaska Airlines Center, Dimond and Palmer meet in the first of four Class 4A first-round matches at the arena's Auxiliary Gym.

At 3 p.m., Thursday's winning teams head to the main gymnasium at the Alaska Airlines Center. The gym will be divided in half to create two courts, one for the two 3A winners-bracket matches and one for the two 4A matches.

But wait! There's more!

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At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, the high school players give way to college players. UAA, winners of 20 matches this season and the 24th-ranked team in NCAA Division II, hosts Simon Fraser in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match.

High school competition continues Friday on the divided court at the Alaska Airlines Center.

On Saturday, the 3A champion will be crowned in a 1 p.m. match on the arena's main court, with an if-necessary match scheduled for 2:45 p.m. The Class 4A championship will be decided at 4 p.m., with the if-necessary match scheduled for 5:30.

Then at 7:30 p.m., the Seawolves return for Senior Night -- their final home match of the season. They will say goodbye to seniors Quinn Barker, Brooke Pottle and Maureen Sabato before taking on 15th-ranked Western Washington.

UAA (20-4 overall, 14-2 GNAC) beat Western Washington (19-6, 12-4) earlier this season in Bellingham, Washington, but the Vikings are always tough.

UAA is ranked ahead of Western Washington in the West Region -- UAA is second, WWU is third. Those rankings will determine seeding in the West Region tournament, so if the Seawolves beat both Simon Fraser and Western Washington, they should go into the postseason as the region's No. 2 seed. GNAC-leading Northwest Nazarene, which swept the Seawolves this season, is the region's top team.

BASKETBALL, ANYONE?

Between the high school tournaments and the UAA games, 30 volleyball matches -- maybe 32, depending on how the high school brackets go -- will be played in the next three days.

If you need a break from all of those spikes and digs, head over to the old Wells Fargo Sports Complex, where the UAA women's basketball team tips off the season with games Friday and Saturday.

The sports center went into semi-mothballs this school year with the opening of the Alaska Airlines Center down the street, but it's getting a workout this week.

The gym will not only get a full day of high school volleyball on Thursday, it will be the scene of UAA's first two games of the season (the Seawolves pulled out a thrilling road victory over Division I Utah last week, but that was an exhibition game, so it doesn't count on their record).

UAA returns to the old gym for games against West Region teams from the Pac West Conference -- Holy Names on Friday and Chaminade on Saturday.

Both games start at 5 p.m.

The Seawolves wound up playing in their old gym because of the volleyball tournaments and a quirky NCAA rule. The rule allows Division II teams to play games exempted from the season limit as long as the games are against teams in the same region and as long as they are played this weekend.

The women's teams at UAA and UAF teamed up to bring Holy Names and Chaminade to Alaska. The UAA men are taking advantage of the NCAA exemption by playing road games this week against West Region teams in California.

ASAA/First National Bank

State volleyball tournaments

Class 3A

Thursday's first round

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Wells Fargo Sports Complex

8 a.m. -- Barrow vs. Valdez

9:45 a.m. -- Mt. Edgecumbe vs. Nikiski

11:15 a.m. -- Homer vs. Nome

1:15 p.m. -- Monroe vs. Grace Christian

Thursday's winner bracket

Alaska Airlines Center

Competition Court No. 2

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3 p.m. -- Barrow-Valdez winner vs. Mt. Edgecumbe-Nikiski winner

5 p.m. -- Homer-Nome winner vs. Monroe-Grace winner

Class 4A

Thursday's first round

Alaska Airlines Center

Auxliary Gym

8 a.m. -- Dimond vs. Palmer

9:45 a.m. -- Juneau vs. East

11:15 a.m. -- Colony vs. West Valley

1:15 p.m. -- South vs. Kodiak

Thursday's winner bracket

Alaska Airlines Center

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Competition Court. No. 1

3 p.m. -- Dimond-Palmer winner vs. Juneau-East winner

5 p.m. -- Colony-West Valley winner vs. South-Kodiak winner

UAA volleyball

Thursday -- Simon Fraser, 7:30 p.m., Alaska Airlines Center

Saturday -- Western Washington, 7:30 p.m., Alaska Airlines Center

UAA women's basketball

Friday -- Holy Names, 5 p.m., Wells Fargo Sports Complex

Saturday -- Chaminade, 5 p.m., Wells Fargo Sports Complex

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