Friday, Oct. 09, 2009

Top volleyball teams converge for Crossover

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

After spending the better part of a month beating up on each other, the CBBN's top volleyball teams can gauge themselves against the best from around the state this weekend at the annual Crossover Classic in Spokane.

Pool play opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday and continues at 8 a.m. Saturday.

The 64-team field suffered from a few last-minute cancellations -- Hanford being one of four teams to drop out earlier this week -- but otherwise it includes a trio of top-ranked teams (Mead in 4A, Bishop Blanchet in 3A and King's in 1A) and all four CBBN ranked teams.

Southridge, ranked No. 4 in the most recent coaches poll, is in a pool with Othello, Goldendale and Union. No. 5 Kamiakin has Ferris, Northwest Christian (Colbert) and Mount Spokane's JV, while No. 6 Richland has Lake City, Deer Park and Rogers (Spokane).

The Bombers caught a break with the last-minute shuffling of the first-round pools. They originally were slated to be in a pool with Mead and Pullman, ranked No. 7 in 2A.

"I don't know anything about the other teams in our new pool," said Bombers coach Bob Raidl. "Our job is to get better each day by challenging ourselves to play everyone tough every day."

The 16 pool winners move into Saturday's championship draw at Ferris High.

-- Tuesday's Kamiakin-Southridge match has much more than intracity bragging rights at stake.

Richland's sweep of Eisen-hower last Tuesday night in Yakima knocked the Cadets out of a four-way tie atop the CBBN and set up Tuesday's match as pivotal in deciding the No. 1 district seed.

The Suns, with their sweep of Hanford on Wednesday, are 10-1 and a half-game up on the Bombers and Braves (both 9-1) in the standings.

Assuming none are upset the rest of the way in league play, if Kamiakin wins Tuesday, it earns the No. 1 seed by virtue of its five-set win over Richland.

However, if Southridge wins, the Bombers have the inside track at the No. 1 seed because of their sweep of the Suns.

"Hopefully, we bring our 'A' game to Southridge," said Braves coach Mary Opitz, whose team is the defending league and district champion.

-- Meagan Doyle had 14 kills and nine blocks as Southridge defeated the Falcons 25-17, 26-24, 25-19 in Richland. ... Royal, ranked No. 7 in 1A, went undefeated through the first half of SCAC East play, capping their run with a five-set victory at Connell last week. The Knights last won a league title in 2004. ... Hermiston fell into a tie for fourth place in the IMC with its three-set loss to Pendleton on Tuesday.