Which team will represent Class A Region 1 at the state volleyball tournament?
The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission is working with legal counsel and representatives from both St. Marys High School and Tyler Consolidated High School to try and seek a resolution to the issue.
The issue at hand centers around what two teams will represent Class A Region I in the high school state volleyball tournament which is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Charleston.
Magnolia and St Marys have both qualified. And then there is Tyler Consolidated, which makes three.
On October 30, a judge ordered that Tyler Consolidated be placed in Class A for volleyball and cheer.
The sectional tournament had already finished when the order was received, creating a dilemma for the WVSSAC.
In order to comply, Tyler Consolidated and St Marys agreed to play on Saturday, November 2, for a chance to play Trinity in the regional contest Tuesday. Tyler won the matchup and St Marys was eliminated at that point.
However, Trinity then filed an injunction in Monongalia County requesting it should be allowed to play St Marys (the original opponent) instead of Tyler. The judge granted the request.
St Marys went on to play Trinity in the regional and won.
With two conflicting court orders, that left Tyler without a place in the regional tournament.
“To be perfectly honest, it is a complicated mess. We (the WVSSAC) have been put in a position to rectify a difficult situation that we did not create,” said WVSSAC Assistant Executive Director Dr. Cindy Daniel. “All parties involved are working together to seek a resolution. We will have a decision no later than tomorrow afternoon and we will let everyone know at that time.”