MANCHESTER — On Tuesdays and Thursdays, boys’ volleyball is all about the first team to three game wins in best-of-five matches.
Saturdays are reserved for grind-it-out, last-man-standing tournaments. Especially when that tournament is the Bobcat Invitational hosted by Northeastern.
You can’t say it was played at Northeastern High School, because with 40 teams, you needed some serious space. Four courts were used in the high school, two in the middle school and two in the intermediate school.
It was the largest field in tournament history, up 10 teams from last year’s bracket.
A tournament like this offered unique opportunities for coaches, and some different down time for players.
“Tournaments for us, and especially this year because we are pretty fluid with the lineup and young in experience, this is a practice day for us,” State College coach Kim-Li Kimel said. “We really push micromanaging the components of each game and setting small goals, and overall in the pool, to put yourself in the best position to advance. But that’s not necessarily our priority. We’re just not that team this year.”
Kimel said she has some experienced players, but graduation losses forced her to move them into new spots.
“I have a libero who could very well be playing at the next level next year, and he’s my setter. And that shifts everybody around,” she said. “I have a right side who is my second setter, and we are trying to move him out of that position because he is also first in offensive percentage.
We are so early in our learning curve right now, that these tournaments are like gold to us.”
State College was one of six Mid-Penn Conference teams playing in Saturday’s tournament. The Lancaster-Lebanon League was represented by eight teams.
The tournament was set up in eight five-team pools. Each team played the rest of the pool in one 30-point game to determine seeds in the play-in bracket. Play here determined whether a team made it to the bronze, silver or championship bracket.
So many teams, so many games, but only eight going on at one time. So what do players do during the downtime that could be as short as 30 minutes or longer than 90?
“Talk, stretch, keep stretching, stay hydrated and keep good energy in you,” is what setter Jake Kerschner and his Central Dauphin teammates do to pass the time. “I just take it one game at a time. It’s a little to get used to for the new kids, but I’ve been playing tournaments since I was 12, so I’m used to it.”
CD’s day started at 6:50 a.m. when the bus left for the 20-minute drive to Northeastern. It ended more than 12 hours later with a first-round loss to Parkland in the championship bracket.
The Rams got caught in the downside of playing in such a large tournament — extended waiting periods when you win.
They waited two hours after pool play and then another two hours after winning their first playoff match.
“The guys just could not get started again,” CD coach Josh Brenneman said. “The guys know we did not put forth our best efforts in that match against Parkland. We will grow as a team and move forward from our loss today.”
Overall results: Cumberland Valley defeated Wilson 25-20 to win the silver bracket. Wilson knocked off Lower Dauphin in the second round of the bracket. … Central York defeated Hempfield 21-11, 22-20 to win the championship bracket. … Chambersburg, State College, Garden Spot, Manheim Central and Red Land lost in the first round of their brackets.