Top Teams Ready For Tourney Volleyball Event Includes 17 Teams From Around State

Yes, the chase for the Greater Spokane League volleyball championship is over but that hardly makes the stretch run anticlimactic.

On tap Saturday is the 17-team Action Sportswear Crossover Classic tournament at Shadle Park and Lewis and Clark.

Some of the best Class AAA teams in the state are entered and many could be back the second weekend of November for the State AAA tournament at the Arena.

That’s only part of the interest in Saturday’s tournament.

All nine GSL teams are participating in the tournament and will matchup for league games. Included in that schedule is a meeting of Shadle Park and Mead, which could determine the final GSL team to make the District 8 playoffs.

Ferris has league matches against both North Central and Central Valley. The CV-Ferris game means Friday’s scheduled match is off.

The top four of the six teams at the district tournament advance to the first-ever volleyball regional with the Big Nine. From there, three teams move on to state.

Prior to tonight’s game against Lewis and Clark, Shadle Park is 4-9 and Mead is 5-9.

The district tournament will be just like the basketball district. First-round games are loser-out with No. 3 playing No. 6 and No. 4 playing No. 5. The survivors join the top two teams, champion Gonzaga Prep and probable runner-up Ferris, in seeding games for the regional Nov. 3 and 4 in Wenatchee.

In the second-annual Crossover Classic, action begins at 7 a.m. Saturday with the GSL league matches. The league matches are with the GSL teams in the same pool.

Play continues all day at both sites with the championship at 8:30 p.m. at LC.

The two pools at LC are the host Tigers, Kent-Meridian, Fife, University and Prairie; and Ferris, CV, Kentridge and North Central.

The Shadle Park pools are the host Highlanders, Colville, Thomas Jefferson and Mead; Rogers, Kentwood, Pasco and Gonzaga Prep.

, DataTimes