VOLLEYBALL TOURNEY GROWS TO 35 TEAMS

What has always been by far the area's biggest regular-season high school volleyball tournament has gotten even bigger.

The 13th annual SEMO Specialties & Sports High School Volleyball Classic, to be played Friday and Saturday at three venues on the Southeast Missouri State University campus, has added five teams, bringing the field to a whopping 35 squads.

"We've added five teams from last year and we expect an excellent tournament," said Show Me Center director David Ross, one of the event's directors.

Most of the teams in Southeast Missouri, along with several squads from St. Louis and outstate Missouri, will participate.

The 35 squads are divided into seven pools of five teams each, with round-robin pool play set for Friday and early Saturday. From there, most of the teams will advance to single-elimination tournament play, which features something of a twist this year.

For the single-elimination competition, the top two teams from each pool will be placed in the gold (championship) playoff bracket while the squads that finish third and fourth in each pool will be placed in the silver (consolation) playoff bracket. In the past, 18 of the 30 survivors from pool play advanced to one playoff bracket.

Following is a list of the teams in each pool:

Pool A: Chaffee, Woodland, Sikeston, South Iron, Rosati-Kain.

Pool B: Jackson, Scott City, Zalma, Greenville, Lindbergh.

Pool C: Cape Central, Oak Ridge, Meadow Heights, Bloomfield, Crystal City.

Pool D: Bernie, Marquand, Poplar Bluff, New Madrid, Montgomery County.

Pool E: St. Vincent, Bell City, Puxico, Farmington, Gideon.

Pool F: Notre Dame, Advance, Clearwater, Senath-Hornersville, New Haven.

Pool G: Perryville, Leopold, Oran, Lesterville, St. Elizabeth.

Friday's round-robin pool play will begin at 5 p.m., with the last matches scheduled for 8 p.m. The matches will be played at the Show Me Center (two courts), the Student Recreation Center (three courts) and Houck Field House (two courts).

Saturday's round-robin pool play will begin at 8:30 a.m., with the last matches scheduled for 11:30 a.m. All three sites will again be used.

The single-elimination playoff competition will start at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, with play at all three venues.

Quarterfinal action for the gold bracket will be at 3:45 p.m., with two matches at the Show Me Center and two matches at the Student Recreation Center. For the silver bracket, the quarterfinals will be at 4:45 p.m., with the Show Me Center and Student Recreation Center being used.

The gold semifinals will be at 6 p.m. at the Show Me Center while the silver semifinals will be at 6 p.m. at the Student Recreation Center. The championship match will be at 7:30 p.m. at the Show Me Center while the silver finals will also be at 7:30 at the Show Me Center.

Farmington is the defending tournament champion, having defeated Rosati-Kain from St. Louis 12-15, 15-12, 15-7 in last year's title match.

Perennial state powerhouse Bernie has captured five of the 12 championships, winning four straight from 1993-96 and also prevailing in 1998.

Farmington and Bloomfield have each claimed two titles, with St. Vincent, Lesterville and Park Hills owning the other crowns.