After months of waiting, club volleyball tournaments return to area

PRIEST RIVER — About a year ago, COVID-19 wiped out the club volleyball season in Idaho.

The canceled season prevented local club teams like River City Volleyball in Priest River and North Idaho Volleyball Club (NIVBC) in Sandpoint from developing their athletes for the high school season and building their programs.

Club teams in North Idaho rely heavily on competition from the Spokane area during the winter and spring, so when Washington shut down and closed its doors, local teams suffered the consequences.

But as tough as the past year has been, life pre-pandemic has slowly come back in recent months and that couldn’t have been more apparent this past Sunday when Priest River High hosted the River City Invitational. It was the first USA Volleyball sanctioned tournament of the season for club teams across North Idaho and parts of Eastern Washington.

Meagan Mize, the Priest River head volleyball coach and founder of River City Volleyball, made it all happen. It was a big undertaking, but one Mize was willing to take on for the kids.

“To work with such great kids, you just want them to be able to compete and play and enjoy what they love,” she said.

Eight U14 and U16 teams descended upon Priest River for the one-day tournament and a team from as far as Prosser, Washington, competed in the event.

It was a moment club teams in the area had been eagerly waiting for, and Mize was glad the West Bonner County School District, Athletic Director Matt George and Superintendent Paul Anselmo allowed her to make it possible.

Mize said Anselmo was very supportive throughout the process.

“The superintendent here has done an outstanding job,” she said. “He’s been for the kids ever since this whole thing started and as long as we're not putting our kids at risk and we’re doing things safely and we have a plan, he’s all for whatever keeps our kids healthy and strong.”

The work to make the invitational a reality started for Mize back in December. At that point, the chances of a club volleyball season happening in Spokane seemed slim. Things were stagnant across the area and something had to be done, Mize said.

“It was really apparent that Washington really wasn’t going anywhere and I just felt the need to try and pull it off,” she said.

Mize got approval to put on the tournament and she put it on the web for teams to bid on and secure their spot in the event. Mize said the response was overwhelming and she had to turn a number of teams away because she didn’t have enough room.

“I got so many coaches that signed up and reached out to me and said, ‘Thank you so much for doing, this is amazing,’” she said.

But with the uncertainty of the pandemic, Mize was unable to set a date for the invitational in stone, so she sat and waited for things to open back up.

About a month ago, things took a turn across the region and a Feb. 28 date was etched into the calendar.

Mize said it almost got to a point where she thought about pushing the tourney into March or April, but the support of other club teams in the area helped keep it on track.

“One of the great things that has come from COVID and us Idaho schools having to rally is really the camaraderie I’ve personally made with other clubs, especially Sandpoint (NIVBC),” she said.

Originally when Mize put the tournament together, she moved forward with the idea that no fans would be allowed in. However, just over a week before the event, she got a plan approved to let in two spectators per athlete.

The invitational was spread across two sites — the Priest River High gym and the Priest River Junior High gym. The eight U16s played pool play at the high school, while the eight U14s took the court at the other site. After pool play concluded, bracket play followed. PRLHS hosted championship matches for U16 and U14 while the junior high held consolation play for both age groups. All the matches were best-of-3.

T3 won the U16 title and RVC claimed the U14 crown. Mize said River City came in seventh in U14s and U16s. NIVBC placed fourth in U16s and secured the consolation title in U14s.

Mize said it was great to see a number of teams from Washington make the trip across the border and for the athletes to get a taste of some competition.

“We’re just doing everything possible to make this happen for the kids,” she said.