Expanded Durango Fall Classic features top national, local teams

Even though longtime Durango coach Bob Kelly stepped aside this year, his presence is still strongly felt in the high quality of the field for the Durango Fall Classic girls volleyball tournament.

In fact, the field shines even brighter in 2009 because Durango chose to expand from 32 to 48 teams, allowing more local teams an opportunity to compete Friday and Saturday against a group of teams that features six squads ranked in the national top 25 by Maxpreps.com. Chief among them is the top-ranked team in the country, perennial power Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, Calif.

“Overall, the field is probably the best of all the previous years,” Durango coach Scott Zeidler said. “We’ve got more quality teams, and we have more local teams than in previous years. The field is phenomenal. This is, if I’m not mistaken, probably the best high school tournament in the country.”

The tourney takes place at Durango, Foothill and Green Valley.

Zeidler credits Kelly for building up the tournament’s reputation as one of the nation’s best. It draws teams from as far as Hawaii, Kentucky and British Columbia. Local teams include many of the state’s best: Bishop Gorman, Centennial, Coronado, Durango, Foothill, Green Valley, Las Vegas, Shadow Ridge and Silverado.

Zeidler said expanding the field to include more local teams should benefit the overall level of play in Nevada later in the year, because the girls will have been tested against some of the nation’s best. While the best players in town play on club teams that travel to Southern California and beyond, this will be the only chance for many players to see the higher level of play that exists outside Nevada.

“They’ll have their eyes wide open,” Zeidler said.

Pool play begins Friday at 3 p.m. at the three sites, with the championship match scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at Durango.