Change rules from NFHS to USAV or FIVB rules. NFHS rules favor participation and benefits teams with large rosters.

Develop a Seeding Committee to determine Schools in two or three divisions.

Limit game team rosters to 12 or 14 players.

Hold a 2-3 Tournament in Maui. (Use results for next tournament)
Then a 2-3 day tournament in Big Island. (Use results from both for state seedings). Format: Pool play, then Bracket play. Best 2 out of 3 sets

Then for States a 3-5 day tournament on Oahu, utilizing the convention center or schools, then an Arena for finals day.
FORMAT: Pool Play then Bracket Play, or straight Bracket Play with 16 teams, Best 3 sets out of 5.

Every year rotate sites or every three years at an outer-island site for states.

On-island competitiions continue as normal for league championships throughout the season. (Results can be used for seeding and tie-breaking purposes)

Overall it benefits teams, schools, coaches, referees, communities, and the competition integrity. Just a matter of an agreement for funding among all schools.

If the current system remains, it’ll be a matter of time till volleyball players from around the state (specifically Oahu) will stop playing high school volleyball and just play club volleyball year round, which is already happening in some states.

Thank you, I was apart of that 2002 team that won it all! ILH will dominate however it comes down to the mental game. I say merge the top OIA and ILH schools like football and make an Open division. Why not!!!

Great points however, girls volleyball has been dominated by the ILH for decades, followed by the OIA and lastly the outer islands. The ILH is very smart by having 4 teams every year to compete in D1 which allows them 2 teams in the State tournament. Imagine if they were like football, only 3 teams, I would assume only 1 team would make the D1 State tournament and the other bid to an outer island team which would widely open up the chase for a title. King K had an awesome season and we would’ve love to have them come to O’ahu in pre-season and challenge the top O’ahu teams such as the power 3 ILH teams or the top 4 OIA teams. Anywho, it ALWAYS comes down to the mental game when playing the ILH teams because the physicality is there to compete with them.

Do you know that you have to go back all the way to 2002 to find the last time a team NOT from the ILH even made it to the D1 state championship match? It has been ILH vs. ILH for the title every year after that! This year will continue the streak.

This sport might have to just let the ILH play by themselves in a open division.

My second point I already made in another comment. I feel the seeding committee let down a very good King Kekaulike team this year. While they may not have beaten any Top 10 teams this year, they were the #3 team in the Top 10. To seed them below Mililani gave them the toughest possible matchup, Iolani, in their 1st match of the tournament. A team was going to have to take that draw, either Mililani or King Kekaulike, but I wonder if both matches would have been better, were the seeds swapped.

If going to a quadrant format with 16 teams, at least in D1, I think the best format would be 4 teams each from BIIF, MIL, OIA, and ILH. Each league hosts a “regional”, with a representative from each league, where the winners of each “region” then make the semifinals. Do away with the “formula” and let each league have a chance to send their best to the semifinal.

Thank you for the article. Great food for thought. Good luck to all remaining teams!