Courtesy of coaches Amber Wood & Julie Heard

Unalaska’s volleyball team is on its way to the state championships. The Raiders secured their berth this weekend at the 2A Borealis conference playoffs in Anchorage.

Coach Julie Heard says Unalaska played a solid match against Holy Rosary, before moving on to a challenging bout with Cook Inlet Academy, or CIA.

"CIA beat us the first two games, and these are matches three out of five," Heard says. "So we needed to come back and beat them the next three games to win the match. And we did that."

"It was very close -- even in the third game, we were down a little bit. And then our kids turned the switch, I would say, and came back and beat them."

The Raiders advanced to the final round, where they faced off against their conference rivals, Su Valley High School.

The competition was tough: Unalaska and Su Valley each won two games in their best-of-five match. Su Valley picked up the victory in the fifth and final game, but Heard says it was still a positive experience for Unalaska’s team.

"Wouldn’t say it was a heartbreaker because we definitely walked off the court proud of how we played," Heard says. "The kids grew immensely as a team. They had no idea they had that in them."

Unalaska’s hoping to channel that momentum toward their state championships, which will start Thursday at Dimond High School in Anchorage.

Heard says the team’s success wouldn’t have been possible without help from Unalaska City School principal Jim Wilson and PenAir. The volleyball team’s flight to Anchorage for regionals was weathered out this weekend.

Wilson and the airline worked together to get the volleyball players out on standby, Heard says.