Tri-Rivers volleyball teams come together for a cause

Tri-Rivers Conference volleyball coaches and players are taking on cancer, one raffle ticket at a time."One thing about our coaches is the support we have for one another," said Gretchen Eastman, coach at Springville High School. "This is just another case of that."When we play each other, we fight like heck. But there's a camaraderie there, and we support each other."Edgewood-Colesburg Coach Eileen Bergan is putting together a quilt made of donated shirts from each of the conference's 10 schools. Many of the shirts are related to cancer-awareness nights each team will host.A raffle drawing for the quilt will be held during the conference tournament Oct. 16 at Cascade. Proceeds of the raffle will go to the Susan L. Bader Foundation of Hope, which supports pancreatic cancer research at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.The father of Cascade Coach Mary Frake died of pancreatic cancer in April.Tickets for the raffle are $1 each, or six for $5. They can be purchased at a match at any Tri-Rivers school. Eastman is hopeful for proceeds of $1,000 or more.

Mustangs make a pointFor the time being, the great debate over the state's best volleyball team has been answered. And quite emphatically.Mount Vernon swept Waverly-Shell Rock, 25-22, 25-13, for the championship of the WSR Invitational on Saturday at Waverly.Rated No. 1 in Class 3A by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and 14th nationally by prepvolleyball.com, the Mustangs improved to 25-0 and extended their winning streak to 40 matches.Waverly-Shell Rock (32-1) is ranked No. 2 in 3A and beat 4A top-rated Ankeny twice this season.

Westside features 12 ratedsCedar Rapids Jefferson's Westside Invitational consists of 24 teams.Half of them are rated.The tournament begins at 8:30 Saturday morning at Jefferson (four pools of four teams) and Washington (two pools of four).Bracket play is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m., with a tentative time of 5:30 for the championship match.Mount Vernon is the top overall seed. Iowa City West is the defending champion. The Women of Troy are rated fifth in 4A.Other top teams include 3A No. 3 West Delaware, 4A No. 4 Cedar Rapids Kennedy and 1A No. 1 Tripoli.