Last week we had a spirited discussion about how unfair and illogical it seemed that the 1-A East Region teams in girls' volleyball were simply re-seeded after their conference playoffs without any consideration given to who had won the four conference tournaments. Thanks to those of you who understood and agreed with my position on the subject.
As a result of that questionable re-seeding, Altavista was awarded the number two overall seed for this week's regional playoffs, even though they had lost their conference final at home to Riverheads, and the Gladiators were seeded number three. Even stranger, Altavista's higher-than-deserved seed meant that somebody actually WON a conference tournament but was sent on the road this week. (I didn't check into what team that may have been and how their story ended.)
Anyway, to update you on that story, Riverheads and Altavista each won their quarterfinals at home on Tuesday, which sent RHS on the long trip down Rt. 29 again tonight. Well I am happy to report that the Gladiators survived that trip and defeated the Lady Colonels a second time. However, "survived" is apparently an accurate word because it sounds like it was quite the intense affair.
I didn't go, but many thanks to Gladiator 01 and his family for keeping me constantly updated. As I understand it, Altavista won the first set 25-18 and RHS came back to even things with an overtime win (27-25 I think it was.) Altavista then took the usually crucial third set, also in overtime (28-26 I think), putting the Lady Gladiators on the brink of elimination.
However, the Big Red reached back for that something extra to win the fourth set 25-18 and then dominated the final set 15-5. I kind of gather from those scores that the difference could have been in conditioning, depth, or stamina. Maybe RHS hit its stride late whereas Altavista may have worn down?
So anyway, I am sure the Altavista ladies wanted the win as much as Riverheads did, but you cannot dispute the fact that they should not have been allowed to host again this week, especially since it meant that more deserving teams who had proven themselves on the court were made to travel.
Riverheads will now host Mathews for the regional final Saturday (I understand at 5:00) and both teams will advance to next week's state playoffs. I almost hope that Mathews was that team that won its conference and was sent on the road so that we can have double the satisfaction that the right teams are advancing.
Again no offense to the Altavista team or their fans, but somebody dropped the ball in the organization of this particular set of playoffs and I hope steps will be taken to make future playoffs follow a more logical pattern for pairing the teams.
As a result of that questionable re-seeding, Altavista was awarded the number two overall seed for this week's regional playoffs, even though they had lost their conference final at home to Riverheads, and the Gladiators were seeded number three. Even stranger, Altavista's higher-than-deserved seed meant that somebody actually WON a conference tournament but was sent on the road this week. (I didn't check into what team that may have been and how their story ended.)
Anyway, to update you on that story, Riverheads and Altavista each won their quarterfinals at home on Tuesday, which sent RHS on the long trip down Rt. 29 again tonight. Well I am happy to report that the Gladiators survived that trip and defeated the Lady Colonels a second time. However, "survived" is apparently an accurate word because it sounds like it was quite the intense affair.
I didn't go, but many thanks to Gladiator 01 and his family for keeping me constantly updated. As I understand it, Altavista won the first set 25-18 and RHS came back to even things with an overtime win (27-25 I think it was.) Altavista then took the usually crucial third set, also in overtime (28-26 I think), putting the Lady Gladiators on the brink of elimination.
However, the Big Red reached back for that something extra to win the fourth set 25-18 and then dominated the final set 15-5. I kind of gather from those scores that the difference could have been in conditioning, depth, or stamina. Maybe RHS hit its stride late whereas Altavista may have worn down?
So anyway, I am sure the Altavista ladies wanted the win as much as Riverheads did, but you cannot dispute the fact that they should not have been allowed to host again this week, especially since it meant that more deserving teams who had proven themselves on the court were made to travel.
Riverheads will now host Mathews for the regional final Saturday (I understand at 5:00) and both teams will advance to next week's state playoffs. I almost hope that Mathews was that team that won its conference and was sent on the road so that we can have double the satisfaction that the right teams are advancing.
Again no offense to the Altavista team or their fans, but somebody dropped the ball in the organization of this particular set of playoffs and I hope steps will be taken to make future playoffs follow a more logical pattern for pairing the teams.
