High school volleyball: Cathedral Catholic, Papillion-LaVista South headline GEICO event broadcast on ESPN

For the second straight season, ESPN will air a four-team high school volleyball tournament showcasing some of the best talent in the country. The GEICO Girls Volleyball Invitational will be held Oct. 7-8 and hosted by reigning Nebraska Class A state champion Papillion-LaVista South (Papillion).

All four matches will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.

Last season, the inaugural tournament saw Marymount (Los Angeles) win en route to an unbeaten season and MaxPreps National Championship.

This year's field includes two teams ranked in the MaxPreps Top 25 as well as players who were either named MaxPreps All-Americans or best in their state.

In addition to the host Titans, who are ranked No. 21, the field also includes Ponte Vedra (Fla.), Skyview (Nampa, Idaho) and No. 2 Cathedral Catholic (San Diego).

SCHEDULE
Friday, Oct. 7 (all times Eastern)
5 p.m. — Skyview vs. Papillon-LaVista South, ESPNU
7:30 p.m. — Ponte Vedra vs. Cathedral Catholic, ESPN+
Saturday, Oct. 8
5 p.m. — Third-place match
7:30 p.m. — Championship match
Papillion-LaVista South has won five state titles over the past 20 years and are led by MaxPreps All-Americans Stella Adeyemi (Hawaii commit) and Lauren Medeck (South Dakota). Libero Kenzie Dyrstad (Rutgers) and middle blockers Ava Greene (Concordia) and Morgan Bode (South Dakota) are other college-bound standouts.

Ponte Vedra has won three Florida 6A titles in the past five years (2017, 2019 and 2020). The Sharks are led by MaxPreps All-American Zeta Washington (Cincinnati), setter Jessica Shattles (New Hampshire), outside hitter Ava-Grace Redick (College of Charleston) and middle Chelsea Sutton (Tennessee).

Skyview has played for the Idaho state crown in each of the past seven seasons, winning four. They're led by setter Alex Bower (BYU) and hitter Alex Acevedo (Oregon).

Cathedral Catholic won the San Diego Section Open Division crown last season and are No. 2 in the latest MaxPreps Top 25. The Dons are led by All-American Julia Blyashov (Stanford), who also has competed for USA Volleyball over the last two summers. She's joined by Ryleigh Patterson (Harvard), Cate Schnell (Tennessee), Milan Bayless (Colgate), Jenna Hanes (Michigan) and Amanda Saeger (DePaul).