THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Outdoor volleyball match coming to Lake City High on Saturday
Mark Nelke.
Outdoor volleyball matches have become all the rage in college volleyball in recent years.
Nebraska played in its football stadium in Lincoln.
Four teams played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Four teams played last month at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.
And so on.
On Saturday, high school volleyball comes to North Idaho, when Lake City plays host to Mt. Spokane at 5:30 p.m. on a court set up at Van Troxel Field, the Timberwolves' home football field.
"It’s something that we’ve been wanting to do for a few years now as it’s become popular at the college volleyball level," said Michelle Kleinberg, in her seventh season as Lake City's head volleyball coach. "But a dream turned into reality pretty quickly at the end of August with some connections to get the floor here. Our committee of parents and volunteers has been incredible. There’s been hundreds of hours spent behind the scenes to get this event off the ground and in addition to it being really fun volleyball, it’s a big fundraiser for our program that’ll allow us to travel more next year and replace some worn-out equipment. The support from local businesses has blown me away."
THE COURT is the same one used at The Podium in Spokane for the Pacific Northwest Qualifier. It will be placed on the football field, but closer to the home bleachers.
Last week, Mt. Spokane and Mead played an outdoor match on the artificial turf at Union Stadium in Mead.
Grass football fields tend to have a bit of a crown for drainage, but Kleinberg said "we have a solid plan in place" to keep the court as level as possible, including three layers of stabilization constructed under the top court surface.
Due to sunlight and other variables, she anticipates teams will alternate sides of the court each set in the best-of-5 sets match — a "very common protocol for volleyball if the sides aren't identical, even on an indoor court."
Plans are for extended time between sets — 5 minutes instead of 3 — to keep the floor dry and heated. Several heaters will surround the court, and volunteers will be on hand to wipe the court down to remove and reduce moisture — same as the protocol for NCAA outdoor matches.
If the weather turns, the match will be moved inside to the Lake City High gym.
But as of now, there's a predicted high on Saturday of 72 degrees, dipping into the 60s by match time, with zero precipitation.
The match will start as the sun begins to set (sunset is at 6:22 p.m.), then the lights will take over as daylight decreases.
IT JUST worked out that Mt. Spokane was the opponent. The teams were scheduled to play on Saturday at Lake City already, and the Timberwolf football team is on a bye this week, giving volunteers extra time for setup.
As part of making it more of an event, there will be tailgating, food trucks and games prior to the match at the stadium, starting at 4 p.m.
"It’s going to be a historic night for the volleyball community as a whole in our local area," Kleinberg said.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.