Bank of the Ozarks Arena hosts volleyball championships today
Hot Springs is expected to welcome at least several thousand guests today for five high school state championship volleyball matches at Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
The state finals begin at 11 a.m. and continue throughout the day. The last match of the day, the 5A finals, is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said it is difficult to project attendance numbers with Hot Springs hosting the finals for the first time. At least several thousand people are expected to attend due to the number of schools participating and potential attendees from the area.
“We think that there is a lot of local interest in volleyball,” Arrison said. “So I think we will have a lot of locals who come out. Some of those teams will have fans that will travel as well.”
Visit Hot Springs had hoped that one or two local teams would be able to make it to the state finals, but none advanced further than the state quarterfinals. Jessieville was eliminated in the 3A quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Fountain Lake and Lakeside lost their first round matches in classes 4A and 5A, respectively. Lake Hamilton earned a bye to the second round of the 6A tournament,
but lost to Greenwood in the team’s first match.
The 10 competing finalists will travel an average of about 150 miles or two and half hours to Hot Springs for the finals. The two closest finalists, Russellville and Mena, are both about 70 miles away for an hour and 40-minute bus ride.
Russellville faces Marion in the 6A finals at 11 a.m. Each team has only lost one set in their first two matches.
Bentonville and Fayetteville follow at 1 p.m. in the 7A finals. Both teams won their first opening matches in three sets, but needed five sets in their semifinals matchups on Thursday. They will combine to travel 390 miles one-way to Hot Springs.
Mansfield and Paris are scheduled for 3 p.m. in the 3A finals. Mansfield has yet to drop a set in the tournament. Paris has won nine straight sets since dropping the opening frame to Lee County in the first round. The combined 200 miles is the shortest cumulative distance for any matchup today.
Mena is scheduled to face Shiloh Christian in the 4A finals at 5 p.m. Each team earned the No. 1 seeds from their conferences.
The 5A finals pit Paragould against Valley View. Paragould has not lost a set in the state tournament. Valley View cruised through the first two rounds before advancing to the finals via a five-set thriller with conference rival, Batesville.
The Arkansas Activities Association awarded the state volleyball championships to Hot Springs in January. Hot Springs was selected over other bids from Fayetteville, Mena, Russellville and Valley View.
The Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission began to explore volleyball events further after the Sun Belt Conference elected to move its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to New Orleans. The AAA held the state high school basketball tournaments in a differ- ent location for one year before returning to Hot Springs in 2014 for the next two years. Visit Hot Springs especially seeks to host high school state finals competitions.
“We want our kids to have an opportunity to compete for a state championship in their own backyard, so to speak,” Arrison said.
The commission approved a purchase of a volleyball court and related equipment for $60,000 last April. The Great American Conference held its 2013 volleyball championships at Bank of the Ozarks Arena last November and will return again in two weeks.
A volleyball tournament in February hosted by the Memphis Metro Junior Volleyball Club drew thousands of players, coaches and family members to Hot Springs. Arrison expects the tournament to return.
Arrison said Visit Hot Springs has found a market for volleyball, but the group is hoping to attract more basketball tournaments. Hot Springs lost out this year on bidding for the GAC basketball tournaments, but Arrison said they hope to bid again when the current deal expires.
“A lot of local citizens have been after us to have volleyball for years and years,” Arrison said. “We started looking at it and we needed to get some more events in there.”
Volleyball tournaments, basketball tournaments and other events are used to balance out less active time periods during the year. Few conventions and similar events are traditionally held in November and December.
“We are constantly looking for other athletic events,” Arrison said. “Bank of the Ozarks Arena gets used quite a bit, but most of it is used — it’s a multi-purpose arena — for other events besides athletic events and concert events. We have all sorts of trade shows, conventions and private events use the facility. People notice more the concerts and athletic events.”