High school volleyball: Gideon Invitational Tournament begins this afteroon

GIDEON — Current Gideon High School volleyball coach Kristen Ashabranner said the district has served as a tournament host since she was a Bulldog player.

The Gideon Invitational volleyball tournament begins today with teams placed into four pools.

Gideon athletic director Keenan Buchanan reported admission will be $3 per day for adults and $2 per day for students.

There will be no tournament passes.

“It's always an honor to host an event, especially our Gideon Invitational,” Ashabranner said. “It's always a fun, exciting event that brings in several talented teams.”

The Bulldogs enter the tournament with a 7-6-1 record.

Pool play matches are set for today and Friday. The top-two teams in each pool will return to Gideon on Saturday for a single-elimination tournament, with matches in a best-of-three format.

Buchanan reported, in a letter to the participating teams, that pool play matches will be capped to 25 points.

Here are the four pools:

Pool 1: Gideon, North Pemiscot, South Pemiscot and Delta C-7 (Deering)

Pool 2: Clarkton, Bloomfield, East Prairie and Richland (Essex)

Pool 3: Campbell, Southland, Cooter and Winona

Pool 4: Risco, Hayti, Charleston and Eminence

There will be two courts set up for the next two days. A complete tournament schedule may be found on the school district's Facebook page.

Risco, Southland, Campbell and Cooter all will play today. Gideon, Clarkton and Delta C-7 matches are set for Friday.

Clarkton's record stands at 13-4, with Risco 11-6, Southland 6-7-1, Campbell 4-8-2, Cooter 5-6 and Delta C-7 0-6.

Saturday's matches will begin at 11 a.m., with semifinals set for 1 p.m., and the championship match at 2 p.m.

There also will be a match to determine who places third at 2 p.m.