State Tournament Time, Refs, and structure

[Mamawvolley]

After watching part of this year's TSSAA state volleyball tourney, I have some questions. Maybe they have been asked on this sight before, but I've missed them.

 

1. Why plan a state volleyball tourney on a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday? The kids miss 3 days of school, the crowds and revenue are small, concessions revenue is light, logistics are more complicated with MTSU and Blackman

2. How do they pick the referees? I only saw one from the Knoxville area and one from the Kingsport area. Of course, doing this tourney on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday also limits what refs can participate. Saw some very good referees, but saw some really strange things too. Rotating refs at MTSU, and the same Ref calling up 3 or 4 matches in a row at Blackman. Strange calls applied to one team, yet not applied across the board.

 

3. Why pick just an MVP vs. an all tournament team?? Didn't they used to pick 6-12 players for an all tournament team?

4. Why the change in format from pools of four teams to start then a bracket to a double elimination bracket?? How did they seed the teams?

5. Why the sub-state structure?? Why not let 16 teams make it to state vs. just 8?? Wouldn't this generate more revenue and more concessions??

 

Just Curious. Have been to Big South, SRVA Regionals, Hi Neighbor, etc. -- and was kind of disappointed with what I saw this past week in Murfreesboro.

[smdad]

I agree with a lot of the previous post. I hate the Wednesday through Friday format. Work caused me to miss some great games. Why not Friday and Saturday? I don't care if TSSAA charges more if they condense the time frame to two days. Of course, this will require more play away from MTSU, which is a concern to some.

 

As to refereeing, our frustration was with the scorekeepers. Numerous times points would not be recorded until the play for the next point was nearly completed, and oftentimes the point was put on the wrong side. These matters were always corrected, but it still caused the blood pressure to rise when watching a close game.

 

I also liked the pool play format better than double elimination, especially since it was not a true double elimination tournament. I figured that format would come back to haunt some team, and it did (just ask Page). I know the rules were the same for everybody (and in the AA final, I wanted Red Bank to win, and am glad they did), but I just think it doesn't seem right that Page didn't get a second crack at Red Bank. While I don't know a lot about volleyball tournaments, I wish the TSSAA would consult with the coaches and determine how a majority of coaches think the tournament should be run.

[PHargis]

There are numerous fans which are obviously qualified in answering the post concerning the Tournament.Very likely there are other comments than those on the post. It was a good tournament. It has been about 5 days since the post showed up. Likely some are thinking. It seems some of the posts and comments show up every year. They are legitimate. With as many changes this year, comments I;m sure, are sxpected.