Junior Becca Evans was a Spikefest All-Tournament selection in 2017 and returns to lead Chamblee in 2018. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The fifth annual DCSD Spikefest Volleyball Tournament is set up to crown one overall champion in 2018 as 20 teams vie for the championship on Friday, August 10 and Saturday, August 11 at Chamblee and Redan High Schools.
Eleven playoff teams from 2018 are in the field of 20 which includes defending Spikefest champion Decatur and all 19 DeKalb County squads.
Play gets underway with two play-in games at 5:00 pm on Friday (Aug. 10) at each site.
The Chamblee half of the bracket has seven of the playoff teams consisting of Arabia Mountain (21-12), Chamblee (28-12), Clarkston (8-28), Druid Hills (12-13), Lakeside (19-18), Miller Grove (17-13) and Towers (9-11).
Chamblee reached the Elite 8 for the second consecutive season in 2017. The Lady Bulldogs won the inaugural Spikefest in 2014 and finished as the runners-up in 2015 and the Gold Bracket runners-up in 2016 and 2017.
The Lady Bulldogs became the first DeKalb team to reach 500 wins (507-327) early last season and also gave Coach Lorri Reynolds her 200th career victory (215-165, 11 seasons) while making their sixth consecutive trip to the playoffs.
Arabia Mountain made its second consecutive state playoff appearance in 2017 and fifth overall in 10 seasons. Miller Grove made a state playoff appearance in 2017 and Clarkston picked up its first ever state playoff berth under the direction of Coach Joie Bullock.
Lakeside is coming off a ninth consecutive state playoff appearance. Coach Angela Thompson is third all-time on the DeKalb County career victories list with a 241-152 record in 11 seasons while Lakeside is third in program wins in the county at 429-358.
Druid Hills returns to action this season boasting 354 wins (354-249) having won the program’s 350th last September. The Lady Red Devils have 9 state playoff appearances in the past 14 seasons including 2017.
Towers rounds out the 2017 playoff teams in the bracket at Chamblee. The Lady Titans made a second consecutive state playoff appearance in 2017 and third overall.
Columbia, Cross Keys and Tucker round out the 10 team bracket at Chamblee.
Defending champ and Class 5A state playoff Sweet 16 participant Decatur heads up the four playoff teams in the Redan side of the bracket.
The Redan Lady Raiders won a second consecutive Silver Bracket title in 2017 and look to battle for the overall title in 2018.
Host Redan reached the state playoffs for the sixth consecutive season in 2017 and won the Silver Bracket the past two seasons.
Southwest DeKalb chalked up the program’s 250th victory last August and is 267-267 overall heading into 2018. The Lady Panthers have reached the state playoffs four consecutive years and gave Coach Kristina Parrish (111-77) her 100th career victory.
Stone Mountain is coming off a second consecutive state playoff appearance in 2017. It was the Lady Pirates second all-time playoff appearance.
Dunwoody which won the 2015 overall Spikefest title and the Gold Bracket championship in 2016 returns in 2018 after playing in the Elite 8 Tournament a year ago. The Lady Wildcats are looking to turnaround a 2017 season in which they missed the playoffs for the first time in five seasons which included a pair of Final Four appearances.
Cedar Grove, Lithonia, Martin Luther King Jr. and Stephenson join the others in the Redan bracket.
The championship match and consolation championship match are set for 4:30 pm at Chamblee on Saturday.
Spikefest serves up the first regular season action for 11 of the teams involved. Cedar Grove, Columbia, Cross Keys, Dunwoody, Martin Luther King Jr., McNair, Stone Mountain and Towers all have matches earlier in the week to get the 2018 season underway in DeKalb.
See full brackets at link below: