Unalaska volleyball and wrestling teams came home Sunday night with a tournament trophy in tow. / Credit: Lauren Rosenthal

This weekend, Unalaska’s wrestling and volleyball teams made a splash in their final tournaments before regional championships.

The girls’ volleyball squad competed at Cook Inlet Academy’s tournament in Soldotna. Coach Julie Heard says the team performed well right out of the gate, winning their first match against Holy Rosary Academy on Friday.

"And then the power went out and there was a five-hour power outage," Heard says. "We resumed play at five o’clock that night."

The outage turned the tournament schedule upside down, forcing the Raiders to play some of their matches late into the night and early in the morning. But Heard says the team pressed on.

Unalaska beat out Cook Inlet Academy’s home team in the tournament championship. On top of that, Heard says Unalaska received a special award for sportsmanship -- and four players made the all-tournament team.

"That was Taytum Robinson, Louisa Seman, Kanesia Price, and Kiecel Tungul from the Raiders, which was very exciting," Heard says.

Robinson, a senior setter, was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Robinson says it was a big honor, but her focus is now on preparing for regional playoffs.

"Just work on the mentality and get more ferocious and very aggressive," Robinson says. "I mean, I think we can really bring it against Su Valley [High School]."

The Raiders lost to Su Valley High School at 2A state championships last year. In order to qualify for state again, Unalaska must win first or second place at regionals.

While Unalaska’s volleyball squad was hard at work this weekend, so was the Raider wrestling team. They traveled to Palmer for the Lancer Smith Memorial Tournament, where Coach Steven Gregory says 40 teams squared off.

"It was the biggest tournament in the state -- bigger than the state tournament because of the number of participants," Gregory says. "So we were up against some really tough competition."

Unalaska’s team finished in 30th place overall. But Gregory says the individual wrestlers made a strong showing.

"Two of the boys were one match away from placing at the tournament, which is really a big deal," Gregory says.

Unalaska’s captain Dylan Magnusen, a senior, and freshman Gabe Kochuten finished just shy of the top. Gregory says he’s expecting big things from those wrestlers -- and the rest of the Raider squad -- as they head into their final stretch.

The team will be practicing through the holidays to prepare for regional championships in Dillingham the weekend of December 7. Qualifying wrestlers will move on to state finals the following weekend.