High school volleyball: Division expansions lead to lengthy road trips for area tournaments

Volleyball fans may want to fill up their gas tanks and have the E-ZPass handy for the 50th annual Ohio High School Athletic Association state volleyball tournament that kicks off Oct. 16. The OHSAA expanded volleyball from four to seven divisions this year, and it resulted in some local teams having to travel long distances in the coming weeks. One team that won't have to hit the road is Avon. The Eagles, 18-1 and ranked No. 3 in Division II, earned the top seed and will be at home for the first two rounds as the tournament stayed with pod location play for the first two rounds. Avon will open Oct. 23 against No. 30 seed Cuyahoga Falls and would then face No. 22 Eastlake North or No. 14 Lakewood. "We were excited to get the No. 1 seed and it allowed us to map out every path to the finals and chose where we thought was best," Eagles coach Kara Coffman said. "There are a lot of good teams in our division. I knew it would be between us and Wadsworth for the No. 1 seed, but we had beaten them earlier in the season, which I believe is why we were voted into that No. 1 seed." North Ridgeville (6-14) and Amherst (9-10) are the other local teams in Division II, as the No. 18 Rangers head to Olmsted Falls to take on No. 20 Walsh Jesuit on Oct. 23, with the winner facing the No. 2 Bulldogs or No. 26 Valley Forge. No. 13 Amherst will burn some gas Oct. 23 when it faces No. 24 Massillon Washington in the late game at Austintown Fitch. Open Door (14-6) will also get to stay home early in the tournament after receiving the No. 2 seed in the newly formed Division VII. The Patriots will play Leetonia on Oct. 17 with the chance to face No. 10 Cuyahoga Falls or Lowellville on Oct. 22. "We were hoping for a high seed. Sometimes coaches do not take into consideration your strength of schedule," Patriots coach Veronica Victor said. "We did play several of the teams in Division VII, which gave us the edge within our sectional/district. The girls have worked hard this season, and they were pumped to get the high seed." No. 14 Lake Ridge (8-10) is also in the smallest division, and it'll face 12th-seeded Berlin Center Western Reserve at Kidron Central Christian. Divisions I, III and IV also only have two local teams. Lorain (12-6) and Elyria (4-16) are in Division I, and 13th-seeded Elyria travels to Massillon Jackson to take on No. 5 Brunswick, while the 11th-seeded Titans travel to St. Joseph Academy, the No. 2 team in the state. Both of those games are Oct. 22. Avon Lake, seeded seventh in Division III, will get to play on its home floor Oct. 17 against 44th-seeded Youngstown East. No. 38 Midview will play St. Vincent-St. Mary at Padua. Firelands (16-4), seeded sixth, gets to stay home Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. tp take on 17th-seeded Cloverleaf in a good early round matchup. Vermilion (7-12) will head to Millbury Lake High School to take on Sandusky Bay Conference foe Sandusky Perkins at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17. Divisions V and VI contain the greatest number of local teams with four in each. No. 27-seeded Keystone (5-15) will go to Columbiana Crestview to play No. 30 Canton South. Clearview (0-16), seeded 31st, will face Columbiana at its home, while Brookside (10-10) and Elyria Catholic (14-6) will be at the Coliseum as the 18th-seeded Cards play Garrettsville and the seventh-seeded Panthers will host Fairview. All the Division V games are Oct. 17. Columbia (10-7), seeded 14th in Division VI, won't play until Oct. 19 at Mogadore as it waits for the winner of the No. 18 Wellington (11-7) vs. Campbell Memorial match Oct. 16. No. 12 Black River (12-9) will get a game at home the same night against Mapleton, while 28th-seeded Oberlin (6-13) plays Oct. 19 against East Canton at Independence. Two local teams will be playing in the Ohio Christian Schools Athletic Association tournament in the Northeast Ohio bracket. Fourth-seeded Christian Community (6-9) will face fifth-seeded Heritage Christian on Thursday at 4:30 at home. The winner of that game will take on top-seeded First Baptist (13-1) at a date and time to be determined. The OHSAA state championships will be held Nov. 7-9 at Wright State University, while the OCSAA state championships will be played Nov. 1 and 2 at Ohio Christian University. Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Division ITuesday, Oct. 22: #13 Elyria v. #5 Brunswick, 7:30 at Massillon Jackson High School; #11 Lorain v. #3 St. Joseph Academy, 5:00 at St. Joseph Academy.Thursday, Oct 24: Elyria/ Brunswick winner vs. Massillon Jackson/John Hay winner, 7:00 at Massillon Jackson High School. Lorain/St. Joseph winner v. Stow-Munroe Falls/Canton McKinley winner, 7:00 at St. Joseph Academy. Division IIWednesday, Oct. 23: 18 North Ridgeville v. #20 Walsh Jesuit 7:00 at Olmsted Falls High School; #1 Avon v. #30 Cuyahoga Falls, 5:00 at Avon High School; #13 Amherst v. Massillon Washington, 7:00 at Austintown Fitch High School.Saturday, Oct. 26: Olmsted Falls/Valley Forge winner v. North Ridgeville/Walsh Jesuit winner, 1:00 at Olmsted Falls High School; Avon/Cuyahoga Hts. Winner v. Eastlake North/Lakewood winner, 11:00 at Avon High School; Amherst/Massillon winner v. Austintown Fitch/Solon winner, 11:00 at Austintown Fitch High School. Division IIIThursday, Oct. 17: #36 Midview vs. #20 SVSM, 5:00 at Padua High School; #7 Avon Lake v. #44 Youngstown East, 5:00 at TBD.Tuesday, Oct. 22: Midview/SVSM winner v. Padua/Barberton winner, 5:00 at Padua High School; Avon Lake/Youngstown winner v. Louisville/CVCA winner, 5:00 at TBD. Division IVSaturday, Oct. 19: #6 Firelands v. #17 Cloverleaf, 7:00 at Firelands High School; #4 Vermilion v. #5 Sandusky Perkins, 7:30 at Millbury Lake High School.Monday, Oct. 19: Vermilion/Perkins winner v. Millbury Lake/Bryan winner, 6:00 at Gibsonburg High SchoolWednesday, Oct. 22: Firelands/Cloverleaf winner vs. Crestwood/Glenville winner at TBD. Division VSaturday, Oct. 19: #27 Keystone v. #30 Canton South, 7:00 at Columbiana Crestview High School; #31 Clearview v. #3 Columbiana, 7:00 at Columbiana High School; #18 Brookside v. Garrettsville Garfield, #7 Elyria Catholic v. Fairview Park, 7:00 at Elyria Catholic High School.Tuesday, Oct. 22: Keystone/Canton winner v. Crestview/Southeast winner at TBD; Clearview/Columbiana winner v. Girard/Manchester winner, 7:00 at TBD; Brookside/Garrettsville winner v. Elyria Catholic/Fairview winner, 7:00 at TBD Division VITuesday, Oct. 16: #15 Wellington v. #8 Campbell Memorial, 6:00 at Campbell Memorial; #12 Black River v. #29 Mapleton. 6:00 at Black River High SchoolSaturday, Oct. 19: Wellington/Campbell winner v. #14 Columbia, 11:00 at Mogadore High School; Black River/Mapleton winner vs. Independence, 11:00; #28 Oberlin vs. #30 East Canton, 1:00 at Independence High SchoolWednesday, Oct. 23: Campbell/Wellington/Columbia winner vs. Mogadore/St. Thomas Aquinas winner at TBD; Black River/Mapleton/Independence winner vs. East Canton/Oberlin winner at TBD. Division VIIThursday, Oct. 17: #2 Open Door vs. Leetonia, 5:00 at Open Door High School; #14 Lake Ridge v. #12 Berlin Center Western Reserve, 5:00 at Kidron Central Christian High School.Tuesday, Oct. 22: Open Door/Leetonia winner v. Cuyahoga Heights/Lowellville winner, 5:00 at TBD; Lake Ridge/Western Reserve winner vs. Brookfield/Kidron winner, 7:00 at TBD. Highest remaining seed will host the TBD contests.