Wirt County's Addison Stephens and her Wirt County Tigers are one of four area teams swho were affected by the WVSSAC's decision on Sunday to postpone indefinitely this week's Class A state volleyball tournament in Charleston. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG – Not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, on Sunday the WVSSAC made the decision to postpone indefinitely the Class A portion for this week’s high school state volleyball tournament in Charleston.

The decision coincides with an impending court injunction. WVSSAC Executive Director David Price is scheduled to attend the injunction hearing on Tuesday morning.

“I feel for the kids who have a chance to go to Charleston, and as far as the Class A state tournament I have no idea when that will happen,” WVSSAC Assistant Executive Director Dr. Cindy Daniels said.

The announcement was made during Sunday’s gathering for the football coaches meeting at the WVSSAC building for the first round of the state tournament beginning this Friday and Saturday.

“Seven of the nine schools who were involved were at today’s meeting, so we got the other two schools on the phone and met with them briefly,” Dr. Daniels said. “Certainly they were disappointed, but they all understand it wouldn’t be in the best interest for the kids if they brought everybody to Charleston and for there to be an injunction hearing at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, start matches at 8:30 then (David Price) calls at 8:45 and tells us to pull them off the floor.

“And that’s a chance we can’t take.”

The tournament at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention will continue as scheduled for Class AA, AAA and AAAA beginning with opening round matches at 8:30 a.m. beginning on Tuesday, and wraps up on Thursday with the finals.

The championship matches were originally set to begin at 9 a.m. with Class A.

According to Dr. Daniels, the time of the first championship match with Class AA is still to be determined. The WVSSAC may stick to 9 a.m. Another option is to move the starting time back one hour. The WVSSAC is still weighing its options.

The issue at hand in Class A is the status of what has become a nine-team field, which includes area teams Magnolia, Tyler Consolidated, St. Marys and Wirt County.

The WVSSAC does not determine the eligibility of teams. Rather, the organization follows the ruling handed down from litigation. Just in the past several weeks, five injunctions have been filed in the sport of volleyball alone.

“For me probably the most frustrating part of this, I feel like adults are making decisions that think they are helping the kids when in fact in my opinion they are hurting kids,” Dr. Daniels said. “The four administrators who work in this office, we didn’t make any of these decisions. Yet, we are demonized and villainized. Hey, we have big shoulders but at the end of the day it bothers me we are losing sight of what matters the most – and that’s the kids.

“I’m hopeful a resolution will be reached and we stop the madness – if you will.”