Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

CBBN district volleyball tournament set to begin

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

Seven of the eight participants in next week's CBBN 4A district volleyball tournament are set.

The final team will be decided tonight when Eastmont travels to Moses Lake to take on the Chiefs.

The winner gets the No. 8 seed into the bracket -- ML gets the spot with a win even if Pasco should upset Kamiakin, creating a three-way tie for eighth, because of the Chiefs' earlier victory over the Bulldogs.

Southridge can wrap up the No. 1 seed and the right to host the final day of tournament action tonight by winning at West Valley.

The Rams showed that will not be an easy task, though, with their five-set victory over Kamiakin on Tuesday.

Richland, though, can still get the No. 1 seed by beating Walla Walla and having the Suns lose in Yakima.

The Braves, by the way, are now 1-3 in five-set matches this season, beating Richland at home but losing on the road to Southridge, Eisenhower and WV.

There are still possibilities of three-way ties for second (between Richland, Kamiakin and Eisenhower) and for fifth (between Wa-Hi, Kennewick and Wenatchee).

In the 3As, West Valley has wrapped up the No. 1 seed, with Hanford the second seed and having to play Sunnyside in a loser-out, first-round match to qualify for regionals.

-- Grandview clinched the CWAC South's No. 1 seed and a bye into the district semifinals with its win Tuesday over Toppenish. Prosser looks locked into the No. 3 seed and hosting a first-round, loser-out match against the North No. 4.

That looks less likely to be Othello after the Huskies gutted out a five-set win Tuesday over Ephrata. Othello, which qualified for state a year ago, looks as if it will be the No. 3 seed and hosting the South No. 4.

-- The SCAC East title is on the line tonight in Royal City as fifth-ranked and unbeaten Royal takes on Connell.

The teams played a five-set match earlier this month, with the Knights winning in Connell, and if they can get the season sweep, they'll almost certainly win their first title since 2004 and only the third in the program's history.

River View, meanwhile, can clinch the final district berth with a win tonight at Wahluke.

-- Hermiston must sweep this weekend's IMC home matches against Mountain View and Bend to have any chance at ending a seven-year playoff drought. MV swept the Bulldogs in their first meeting last month in Bend.