Members of the Central Crossing and Grove City programs didn't have the opportunity to participate in the tournament, given that all extracurricular activities in their schools were dropped when South-Western City Schools' operating levy failed Aug. 4.

However, the same day as the second-round tournament matches, the Central Crossing and Grove City teams played a match at 8 p.m. at the Grove City YMCA, after the facility had closed to the public. Central Crossing won 25-21, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18 to even the series between the programs this fall at two matches apiece.

"The level of play is not the same as when we play in the season, but we have a lot of fun," Central Crossing's Miranda Mounts said. "It's just a way to help us get ready for club volleyball."

Central Crossing plays without the help of a coach, but Grove City is aided by Alan Pham, who would have coached the Greyhounds this season if athletics in the school district had not been canceled.

"I think (our kids) are pretty much happy to be able to have the opportunity to play," Pham said. "I know they like the idea of being able to play against someone other than each other at practice."

The varsity league, which concluded last Saturday, consisted of teams from Central Crossing, Grove City and Franklin Heights. The fourth high school in the district, Westland, did not field a varsity team, but all four schools had teams in the junior varsity league.

"When they approached us at the Y about having the league here, we were excited about it," said Tony Delisio, executive director of the Grove City YMCA. "We wanted to be able to do something for the kids who didn't have a sport during the fall, so we helped form a league for the four South-Western schools.

"It went well from our perspective, because not only is it a great way to fill a community need, but it's good for us because we close at 8 (p.m.) Saturdays and we usually aren't very busy at that time anyway. So they had the place pretty much to themselves and we even stayed open an extra hour to help out."

Central Crossing's Claire Bohne found out about the league from teammate Kaeli Parcel. Several Comets then joined forces to organize the team.

"We practice for two hours on Sunday without having a coach, so I guess we're lucky to be playing," Bohne said. "At least we're actually getting to play volleyball this fall."

Most of the players didn't seem to mind that the ceiling at the YMCA is lower than in most high school gymnasiums, causing numerous digs to glance off raised basketball backboards as well as low-hanging fluorescent light fixtures. Nor did they seem to care that scoring had to be kept with hand-operated vinyl strips on a triangular stand because there is no electronic scoreboard.

"For the most part, it is regular volleyball," Grove City junior Amber Kennett said. "It just helps us get some of our reps in before playing in the club season."

But for Grove City's Heather Davis, who lost her senior season, the league did not replace the high school season.

"We definitely push ourselves a lot more during the high-school season," she said. "We push ourselves here, but it's definitely not the same."