All area high school volleyball teams will be rooting for Oconto tomorrow when the Blue Devils make their second ever appearance in the state volleyball tournament. The 40th Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Volleyball State Tournament will take place today through Saturday at the Resch Center in Green Bay. Ticket prices for the tourney are $8 per session.
The single-elimination tournament features matches with a best-of-five-games, rally-scoring format. Eight teams will play for the State title in Division 1, with four teams still in contention for the State crown in Divisions 2, 3 and 4. Below is the schedule and match-ups for the tournament.
DIVISION 3 SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 2
1 p.m. Oconto (36-1) vs. Cuba City (30-9)
Grantsburg (25-3) vs. Oostburg (41-4)
Saturday, Nov. 3
12:30 p.m. Championship Match
Last year, Oostburg won the Division 3 championship by outlasting Spencer 21-25, 25-16, 26-24, 22-25, 17-15 in the title match. The defending state champs are back with sights on defending the title won in 2011. The Dutchmen return to State for the eighth time overall. They also won the State championship in 1994 and were runners-up in 1988 and 2006. They are the champions of the Germantown Sectional by defeating Racine St. Catherine’s in the final. Grantsburg is back in the tournament for the 13th time overall and for the fifth season in a row. The Pirates have won State titles in 2001 and 2009 and have runner-up finishes in 1989, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2010. They are the champions of the Osseo-Fairchild Sectional after defeating Regis in the final. Cuba City makes its 11th appearance and its first since finishing runner-up in 2009. The Cubans have won three State titles. Those came in 1990, 1992 and 2007. They have also finished runner-up three times, in 1988, 1991 and 2009. They defeated Deerfield in the Wisconsin Heights Sectional final to return to the State semifinals. Oconto advances to the State Tournament for the second time. The only other appearance came in 1999 when the Blue Devils lost in the Division 3 semifinals. They are the representatives out of the Marathon Sectional by virtue of their win over 2011 runner-up Spencer in the final.
