by Chris Pfaff, Xavier Sportswriter

The last Xavier Volleyball tournament was two weeks ago in Las Vegas; this weekend’s tournament took place at Arizona Athletic Grounds (formerly Legacy Sports Park) in east Mesa.

As a nationally ranked team, Xavier was placed in the 32-team National division. The competition schedule began with eight four-team pools.

In pool play, Xavier lost to Horizon 1-2, beat Vista Murrieta (CA) 2-0, and got the win over Oviedo (FL) 2-0. In Pool D, the Gators (2-1) finish second to Horizon (3-0).

The next step in the schedule is qualifying for a bracket. On Saturday morning, each first-place team in pool play plays a second-place team from another pool. The winner qualifies for the Platinum bracket; the loser settles for the Gold bracket.

Xavier, a second-place team, played and beat Cornerstone Christian (TX), a first-place team, 2-1, qualifying for the Platinum bracket. Casteel, being a first-place team, played and beat a second-place team, Pinnacle, 2-0, also qualifying for the Platinum bracket.

Xavier’s first opponent in the Platinum bracket was Casteel. Unfortunately, Casteel became the second Arizona team in a row that Xavier faced and lost to 1-2.

With the loss to Casteel, Xavier now had to win the final two matches in order to secure fifth place. The Gators beat Fossil Ridge (CO) 2-1 and Sunrise Mountain 2-0 to claim fifth place in the tournament.

I seems to me that tournament play does not necessarily determine regular season and State tournament outcomes. In some cases they may relate to each other; in other cases, maybe not. The main difference is that tournament play matches are best-out-of-three, while regular season and State tournament matches are best-out-of-five.

Xavier is currently ranked #1 in the state for 6A. So, the results of the NIKE TOC were surprising in the following ways:

• Xavier lost to Horizon (5A #3) but beat Sunrise Mountain (5A #1).
• Xavier lost to Casteel (6A #8).
• Hamilton (6A #11) finished fourth in the Platinum bracket, better than Xavier’s fifth-place finish.

In regular season play, however, Xavier beat Casteel and Hamilton 3-0. In Xavier’s nine regular season matches, their win-loss record stands at 9-0, and they have not lost one measly game (set).

The NIKE TOC results do not diminish my hopes for another Volleyball State Title for Xavier College Prep.

Go Gators!