CORVALLIS, Ore. – Bright and early Friday morning, the Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball schedule officially gets underway. The road to the beginning might have been long and full of twists and turns, but the day has finally come for conference action to start.
Earlier this month, the CCC announced it would be moving to a hybrid model due to the coronavirus effects on Oregon counties. The hybrid schedule has the College of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College each hosting three other CCC teams in a tournament-style format, in which each team will be able to play four matches in a weekend. The tournament-style contests take place at each campus the weekends of Feb. 19-20 and Mar. 5-6.
The Coyotes host Oregon Tech to get the ball rolling on the conference season, with first serve happening at 9:00 a.m. MST in Caldwell, Idaho. No. 9-ranked Eastern Oregon University follows with a matchup against Multnomah University. The two matches will then repeat in the afternoon, with “home” duties swapping for the other team.
About 270 miles away in Lewiston, Idaho, four other teams will battle it out at Lewis-Clark State College. The Warriors open with Bushnell University on one court, while No. 13-ranked Corban University and Warner Pacific University hit the other court. Like at C of I, the matches will swap “home” duties for the afternoon matchups.
EOU was predicted to take the CCC crown after sharing the regular-season championship last year with Southern Oregon University, which opted-out of this year.
With COVID-19 cases reducing across the conference footprint, it is anticipated that by the Mar. 19-20 dates, the league will be able to return to a more normal home-and-away schedule as Oregon counties hopefully move out of the extreme risk categories to high or moderate. This will allow for indoor activities under Oregon Health Authority guidelines.
At this time, the postseason tournament is still on tap but reduced from six to four teams.
Volleyball Revised Schedule
The league will continue with the policy that spectators will not be permitted at any CCC events – with the exception of cross country and golf – until further notice. CCC member schools intend on live streaming the majority of events, with the schedules being found by going to each athletic department’s website.