By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac varsity volleyball team is back in action on Thursday as it hosts the Chieftain Invitational.
Battle Creek Lakeview, Bridgman, Buchanan, Cedar Springs, Coloma, Eau Claire, Edwardsburg, Niles, Plainwell, River Valley and South Haven will join the Chieftains for the tournament, which will be held at the Dowagiac Middle School.
Pool play will begin at 8:30 a.m. Admission is $5. Concessions will be available.
In Pool A will be Dowagiac, River Valley, Eau Claire, Bridgman, South Haven and Battle Creek Lakeview. Pool B will consist of Niles, Coloma, Edwardsburg, Buchanan, Plainwell and Cedar Springs.
All pool play matches will be rally scoring to 25 points. The top four teams in each pool advance to the playoff round. Playoff round matches will be a best of three with the first two games using rally scoring to 25 with no cap. If a third game is necessary, it will be played to 15 points with no cap.
Winners advance to the finals.
In Pool A, Dowagiac will take on River Valley at 8:30 a.m. on Court A. On Court B it will be Niles taking on Coloma, while on Court C it will be Eau Claire taking on Bridgman.
At 9:15 a.m., on Court A it will be Edwardsburg facing Buchanan, while on Court B it will be South Haven facing Lakeview. On Court C it will be Plainwell facing Cedar Springs.
The 10 a.m. matches will find Dowagiac facing Eau Claire on Court A, Niles facing Edwardsburg on Court B and River Valley facing South Haven on Court C.
In the 10:45 a.m. matches, Coloma will face Plainwell on Court A, Lakeview will face Bridgman on Court B and Cedar Springs will face Buchanan.
In the next round of pool play, set to begin at 11:30 a.m., River Valley will face Eau Claire at Court A, Coloma will face Edwardsburg on Court B and Lakeview will face Dowagiac on Court C.
At 12:15 p.m. on Court A, it will be Cedar Springs taking on Niles, on Court B it will be Bridgman taking on South Haven, while on Court C, it will be Buchanan taking on Plainwell.
The 1 p.m. matches will pit River Valley taking on Lakeview on Court A, Coloma taking on Cedar Springs on Court B and Bridgman taking on Dowagiac on Court C.
In the final round of pool play matches, scheduled to begin at 1:45 p.m., Buchanan will face Niles on Court A, South Haven will face Eau Claire on Court B, while on Court C, it will be Plainwell taking on Edwardsburg.
In the quarterfinals at approximately 2:30 p.m., the champion from Pool A will take on the fourth place finisher in Pool B on Court A. On Court B, the champion from Pool B will take on the fourth place finisher from Pool A.
At 3:15 p.m., the runner-up from Pool A will take on the third place finisher from Pool B on Court A. On Court B, the runner-up from Pool B will take on the third place finisher from Pool A.
The winners advance to the semifinals, which are slated to begin at 4:15 p.m.
On Court A, the winner of the first versus fourth match on Court A will face the winner of the second versus third match on Court B. Over on Court B, the winner of the first versus fourth match on Court B will face the winner of the second versus third match on Court A.
The winners advance to the finals, which are scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m.