PARKERSBURG - The pairings for the Little Kanawha Conference volleyball tournament and placement games are finally set.
Although Saturday's championship event, which begins at 4 p.m. inside Doddridge County High School, was actually determined a week ago Tuesday, records to break a tie in the LKC North weren't turned in until Monday.
As it stands, defending Class A state champion Wirt County won each of its six LKC South battles and earned the top seed. Gilmer County's only setback was to the orange and black and the Titans are the No. 2 seed in the South. Tyler Consolidated, which won the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference 3A championship on Saturday versus Shenandoah, was perfect in the North. Single-A state runner-up Williamstown went 5-1 and thus earned the No. 2 seed in the North.
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Photo by Jeff Baughan
Ritchie's Kenna DeLancey returns a volley against Parkersburg Catholic.
When action gets under way on Saturday afternoon in West Union, two courts will be used. Wirt County and Williamstown will play while the Silver Knights tangle with Gilmer County. Both the winners and losers then will turn around and play for the LKC championship and in the consolation match, simultaneously.
Generally, the LKC has not had a third place match as the losers of the semifinals were sent home. However, this fall the seeding for the sectional at Calhoun County featuring the host Red Devils, Wirt County, Williamstown, Gilmer County, Parkersburg Catholic and Doddridge County will be seeded according to the team's respective final finish in the LKC.
This fall, the placement games will be played at the site of the North schools. Matches are set for 6 p.m. today and are scheduled to be played as junior varsity/varsity duals.
Ritchie County, last year's Class AA state runner-up to Oak Glen, will welcome Clay County to Ellenboro for fifth place in the LKC.
Parkersburg Catholic, which like Ravenswood and Doddridge County finished 2-4 in the LKC North, goes for seventh place when Braxton County comes to town. Ravenswood finished ahead of the Bulldogs in the tiebreaker, which came down to overall LKC record, and coach Gary Braham's Red Devils will play host to Roane County for ninth place.
In the 11th place match, Doddridge County will be at home versus Calhoun County as the two teams are essentially battling to avoid the bottom seed in the sectional. South Harrison hits the road to Pleasants County for the 13th place match against St. Marys, which just knocked off Magnolia last week.
