Four teams ranked among the top 16 in the nation in the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Super 25 highlight the field for this weekend’s Ultra Ankle Louisville Invitational Volleyball Tournament.
The 24-team event will start at 6:30 p.m. Friday with pool play at the Ohio Valley Volleyball Center and Assumption High School. All of Saturday’s bracket play will be held at OVVC, starting at 9 a.m. The Gold Division championship match is set for 4 p.m.
No. 5 Assumption leads the group of nationally ranked squads, joining No. 8 Marietta (Georgia) Walton, No. 13 Sacred Heart and No. 16 St. Joseph’s Academy of St. Louis.
The field also includes 10 teams ranked among the Top 25 in the state by the Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association – No. 1 Assumption, No. 2 Sacred Heart, No. 3 Mercy, No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 8 Ryle, No. 9 Presentation, No. 11 St. Henry, No. 12 Paul Dunbar, No. 20 Male and No. 22 Holy Cross.
Here are the pools for Friday, with all games at OVVC unless noted, and the latest KVCA poll:
* Pool 1 – Marietta (Georgia) Walton, St. Henry, Paul Dunbar.
* Pool 2 (at Assumption) – Assumption, Kettering (Ohio) Alter, Ryle.
* Pool 3 – St. Louis St. Joseph’s, Toledo (Ohio) Notre Dame, Male.
* Pool 4 – Sacred Heart, Knoxville (Tennessee) Catholic, Manual.
* Pool 5 – Mercy, Columbus (Ohio) Bishop Watterson, South Oldham.
* Pool 6 (at Assumption) – Chicago Mother McAuley, Presentation, Holy Cross.
* Pool 7 – Eads (Tennessee) Briarcrest Christian, Notre Dame, Eastern.
* Pool 8 – Cincinnati St. Ursula, Raleigh (North Carolina) Cardinal Gibbons, Eastern.
* KVCA poll (first-place votes in parentheses) – 1. Assumption (24), 2. Sacred Heart, 3. Mercy, 4. Henry Clay, 5. Tates Creek, 6. Notre Dame, 7. North Oldham, 8. Ryle, 9. Presentation, 10. Cooper, 11. St. Henry, 12. Paul Dunbar, 13. McCracken County, 14. Greenwood, 15. Christian Academy, 16. Newport Central Catholic, 17. Central Hardin, 18. Apollo, 19. Scott, 20. Male, 21. Beechwood, 22. Louisville Holy Cross, 23. Lexington Catholic, 24. Owensboro Catholic, 25. Allen Central.
