Over the course of the past five summers Hoggard High School Coach Ron Strickland provided the impetus by organizing and running the Wilmington High School Summer Volleyball League, and the league became so popular that it has now spawned a spinoff as a second league being organized by Topsail Coach Hill Pearsall.
The Wilmington Summer League will alternate playing locations between New Hanover and Hoggard, opening today with a full slate of games at New Hanover beginning at 6 p.m.
Strickland has six varsity teams currently entered, along with several (6) junior-varsity squads. Strickland did indicate that Hoggard will be entering two junior-varsity teams and that one of those teams will probably move up to play a varsity schedule along with another of the younger teams to complete a varsity schedule. Those schedule adjustments will be made the second week (June 17), which will be played at Hoggard.
Along with the host teams from Hoggard and New Hanover there will be varsity teams from Cape Fear Academy, Coastal Christian, North Brunswick, and South Brunswick.
Missing are Mideastern 4A Conference schools Ashley and Laney, both of whom decided not to participate this year.
“All you can do is make the league available and see who signs up,” Strickland said. “We had gotten so much bigger over the years so I admit I was disappointed a number of teams split off and started another group.
“Actually I have no problem with it. It had grown to where it was getting too big. We have enough interest in volleyball in this area so two leagues aren’t a bad thing because more kids will be playing the sport over the summer.”
There will be eight teams playing at Topsail starting Wednesday, June 12, before switching to Monday, June 17, the following week. Joining the host Lady Pirates will be Pender County neighbors Trask and Pender, Dixon, White Oak, Swansboro, Wilmington Christian Academy and Harrell’s Academy.
“Our goal was two-fold, to find something that was a little more cost-effective for some of the smaller schools, and to get more teams and players involved in a competitive summer environment,” Topsail Coach Hill Pearsall said. “So many teams were expressing interest in joining that we felt two leagues would be more beneficial to all the programs, and to the kids in those programs.”
Wilmington Summer League schedule
June 10 (at New Hanover):
Time Court 1 Court 2
6 p.m. New Hanover vs. Cape Fear; S. Brunswick JV vs. Cape Fear JV
7 p.m. S. Brunswick vs. N. Brunswick; Hoggard vs. Coastal Christian
8 p.m. Cape Fear vs. Hoggard; Hoggard JV-1 vs. Coastal Christian JV
9 p.m. Coastal Christian vs S. Brunswick; NHHS vs. N. Brunswick
10 p.m. NHHS vs. Hoggard JV2; NHHS JV vs. N. Brunswick JV
