The Nikiski volleyball team came up short in a close matchup against Grace Christian on Friday night at Nikiski, losing 3-1.

Grace took the first two games with scores of 25-16 and 26-24, and Nikiski came back strong in the third game with a 25-19 score, but to no avail as Grace edged the Bulldogs 25-22 in the final.

Heather Green topped Grace with 11 kills, 16 digs and three aces. Nicole Weisenfelder had six kills, 20 assists and three aces, Meghan Thacker compiled seven blocks, and Felicity Roe put up four aces.

Armed with one of their best football teams in a decade, Nikiski is set to tangle with Greatland Conference rival Eielson as the Bulldogs search for a second consecutive small-schools state championship.

The game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Chugiak High School. Last season, Nikiski topped Eielson 55-31 in the semifinals before besting Barrow 52-21 for the third small-schools title in school history.

The Soldotna Stars football team is headed to the medium-schools state championship game after a 62-7 blowout against the Kodiak Bears on Saturday afternoon at Justin Maile Field in Soldotna.

Soldotna put the pressure on Kodiak early and never let up, leading at halftime with a score of 53-0.

The Kenai River Brown Bears split two games against the Fresno Monsters (Calif.), winning Friday night’s home opener 4-0 and dropping Saturday night’s game 3-2.

The Brown Bears are now back to being tied with Fresno in the North American Hockey League West division, after breaking it Friday night, with 11 points each. Both are three points behind Fairbanks. The Brown Bears hold a 4-3-3 record.

In Saturday’s game, Kenai River took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal from Matt Seidel, assisted by Lucas Kohls a little over 16 minutes into the game.