By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac varsity, junior varsity and freshmen volleyball teams will open up their seasons on Saturday.
The Chieftain varsity squad will travel to Gull Lake for the Blue Devil Invitational. The junior varsity heads to Coloma, while the freshmen squad will travel to South Haven.
Blue Devil Invitational
Dowagiac will join host Gull Lake and 14 others schools on Saturday.
In Bracket A will be Battle Creek Lakeview, Parchment, Comstock and Benton Harbor. Bracket B will consist of Portage Northern, Allegan, Paw Paw and Niles, while in Bracket C will be Livonia Ladywood, Gull Lake, Bronson and Delton.
Dowagiac will play in Bracket D with Novi, Battle Creek Harper Creek and Homer.
Bracket play will begin at 8 a.m. on four courts. The first round will be a best of three format, with rally scoring to 21 with a cap at 23. If a third game is necessary, rally scoring to 15 will be used with a cap of 17.
The second round will be power brackets, which consist of four teams made up of the first, second, third and fourth place finishers from the first round.
The Blue Bracket will consist of the first place team in A, the second place team in B, the third place team in D and the fourth place team in C.
The Orange Bracket will be made up of the first place team in B, the second place team in C, the third place team in A and the fourth place team in D.
The Green Bracket will consist of the first place team in C, the second place team in D, the third place team in B and the fourth place team in A. The Red Bracket will be made up of the first place team in D, the second place team in A, the third place team in C and the fourth place team in B.
The format will be the same as the first round with the exception that the first two games will be played to 25 with no caps. The third game will be played to 15 and will also have no cap.
The third round will be a single elimination with the first and second place teams in each power bracket advancing to the Gold Bracket, while the third and fourth place finishers will advance to the Silver Bracket.
In the Gold division, the first place team in the Blue Bracket will take on the second place team in the Orange Bracket. The first place team in the Orange Bracket will face the second place finisher in the Red Bracket, while the Green Bracket champion will face the Blue Bracket runner-up.
In the final Gold division match, the Red Bracket champion will face the Green Bracket runner-up.
Over in the Silver division, the Blue, Orange, Green and Red bracket third place finishers will face the fourth place finishers from the Orange, Red, Blue and Green brackets respectively.
The format will be best of three with rally scoring to 25 with no caps in the first two games. The third and deciding game will be played to 15 with no cap.
Coloma Early Bird Tournament
Over at Coloma, Dowagiac and the host Comets will be joined by Decatur, Benton Harbor, Berrien Springs, Edwardsburg and Eau Claire.
Dowagiac and Coloma will be in the Green Pool with Decatur, while the Gold Pool will consist of Benton Harbor, Berrien Springs, Edwardsburg and Eau Claire.
Play is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m.
Dowagiac will face Coloma at 10 a.m. The Chieftains will take on Decatur at 12:45 p.m.
The top two teams in each pool will advance to single elimination play.
South Haven Tournament
The Chieftains and Lady Rams will play in Pool A, along with Delton and Coloma.
Pool B will consist of Vicksburg, Spring Lake, Lakeshore and Otsego.
Play is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m.
Dowagiac will take on Coloma at 9:15 a.m.
The Chieftains will face South Haven at 11 a.m. and then wrap up pool play at 11:45 a.m. against Delton.
The top two teams in each pool will begin single elimination play at 1:30 p.m.