A few East Valley boys volleyball coaches grumbled this week about  the state tournament not starting until May 11 while a few schools (including Mountain Pointe, Brophy, Desert Vista and Hamilton) have matches scheduled during next week’s sudden lag time.

The annoyance stems from having to sit around next week (only able to practice) and waiting until midweek to find out who first-round opponents will be next weekend.

I wouldn’t want to sit around a week either, but since nobody does region tournaments anymore (which is a good thing), it’s a blank week waiting to be filled.

Of course, it’s definitely in the rules to schedule games next week. Furthermore, those teams that moved matches into next week did so because what’s the point of sitting around for that week getting rusty and only practicing?

If region tournaments are truly becoming extinct in volleyball, eventually they should eliminate that week in between (in this case, next week), and start and finish the state tournament a week earlier.

In the meantime, don’t whine about how others are scheduling when you had every opportunity to do the same for your school.