The 2024 high school volleyball season tips off this weekend and seven teams from the Southern Six will be tested early.
The second annual Mississippi Invitational will feature 32 of the state’s best programs at the Jackson Convention Center on Friday and Saturday. Eight courts will be used in pool play on Friday and bracket play will kick off on Saturday.
Teams will play three matches to determine seeding among the four squads in each pool.
The top two teams in each pool will compete in the gold bracket on Saturday and the other two teams in each pool will play in the silver bracket.
Defending 3A state champion OLA, seeking its 16th title this season, headlines the teams heading to the state capital to represent the Coast.
The Crescents, 42-4 last season, will compete in a pool with Pearl, Belmont and Clinton. Hancock, the 6A state runner-up, will compete against Lanier, Lewisburg and Tupelo.
The Lady Hawks finished 33-9 last season, falling to Lake Cormorant in the finals. Lake Cormorant is in the field as well as Alcorn Central, which fell to OLA in the 3A championship last season.
Bay High will be in pool play against Alcorn Central as well as Oxford and Oak Grove. Last season, the Lady Tigers finished as the runners-up in Region 8-4A and fell to Northeast Jones in the playoffs.
West Harrison, coming off a 21-13 campaign, draws Starkville, St. Andrew’s and Choctaw Central. St. Andrew’s fell to Ingomar in the 2A finals last season. The Lady Hurricanes were knocked out of the playoffs by region rival Hancock.
The Gulfport Lady Admirals head up Highway 49 to take on Ridgeland, Columbus and DeSoto Central in pool play. The Lady Admirals were 29-6 last season for second place in Region 4-7A and fell to Northwest Rankin in the playoffs.
Gulfport finished behind Ocean Springs in the region.
The Lady Greyhounds will take on 7A runner-up Brandon in a rematch from last season’s playoffs and they will also meet Germantown and Coast competitor Pass High. Ocean Springs finished last season 22-7 and was 10-0 in region play.
Pass High ended last season with a playoff loss to Purvis and finished as the fourth-place team in Region 8-4A.
Pool play begins at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
Silver bracket play begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday while gold bracket play starts at 10 a.m. Championship play is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
Admission is $10 per day and tickets are available through GoFan. Concessions will be available and no outside food or drink will be allowed in the convention center.
