Upton to host regional tournament in Newcastle

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
Newcastle will be the home to setters, hitters and blockers this weekend as they join Lander, Glenrock, Mountain View, Torrington, Rock Springs and Thunder Basin High School in hosting Wyoming high school volleyball regional tournaments this weekend.
Newcastle will be the hosting site of the 1A East Regional Volleyball Tournament on Friday, Oct. 26, and Saturday, Oct. 27, although Upton High School will be the host team for said tournament. Newcastle’s volleyball team will be competing for their chance at the state tournament in the 3A Regional in Torrington, while the Upton Bobcats fight for their chance in the Dogie Dome.
Four teams from both the 1A northeast region and southeast region will come together to battle for the first-place seat going into next weekend’s 1A State Volleyball Tournament in Casper. Technically there are five teams in the northeast region, but Hulett was eliminated during regular season play, and did not make it into the regional tournament field. 
Midwest, ranked number four in the northeast region, will kick off tournament play against southeast region number one Lingle-Ft. Laramie at 9 a.m. on Friday in the Dogie Dome. The southeast region’s number three, Glendo, will play the northeast region number two, Arvada-Clearmont, following that at 10:30 a.m.
The third game scheduled for the regional tournament is the southeast number four seed Guernsey-Sunrise, playing against the number one team out of the northeast region, Kaycee, at noon. Rounding off the first round of play will be host team and the number three seed from the northeast region, Upton, playing the number two seed out of the southeast region, Hanna Elk Mountain. 
Consolation and the semi-final rounds will be played at the same time beginning at 5 p.m. in both the Dogie Dome and Newcastle Middle School gyms, with the final  games of day one beginning at 6:30 p.m.. The losers of both consolation games will be out and not return to play on Saturday, while the winners of the semi-final rounds will be guaranteed a place at State, and a right to fight for the first place regional finish the following day. 
Tournament play will begin Saturday morning at 9 a.m. followed by the second game at 10:30. The winners of both of these games will be guaranteed a place in the 1A state tournament and meet head to head to fight for the third-place finish at regionals at 1:45 p.m. 
The championship game of the tournament will be played in the Dogie Dome at noon on Saturday.