Kenner’s Ponchartrain Center to host Champions Challenge prep volleyball this weekend

KENNER WILL HOST CHAMPIONS CHALLENGE BEGINNING FRIDAY  AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN CENTER

The city of Kenner will host The Champions Challenge volleyball tournament on Friday, October 19 and Saturday, October 20 at the Pontchartrain Center.  The host school is Vandebilt Catholic, coached by New Orleans native, Greg Castillo, who was the head coach at Cabrini when this event began.

The Champions Challenge is open to the public.  Tickets are $7 and doors open at 4pm on Friday and 8am on Saturday.  Parking at the Pontchartrain Center is free.

All five divisions have their defending state champions in the event.  With the schools participating in the event, and the tournament being played at the site of the upcoming State Championships (November 8-10), The Champions Challenge serves as a measuring stick with less than a month out from title runs.

Mt. Carmel (28-0 in Louisiana) is ranked #1 in Division I, and has won the last four state championships.  Last year’s Division II state champion, Teurlings Catholic out of Lafayette, enters the tournament as its division’s top-ranked team.  Tournament host Vandebilt Catholic, from Houma, is the defending Division III State Champion and is currently ranked #4 in this week’s LHSAA Unofficial Power Rankings.   Defending Division IV champion Pope John Paul from Slidell is the current #1 ranked team in their division.  Country Day is the top-ranked Division V team in the Power Rankings and is the defending champion in Division V.

Aside from all five defending state champions being in the tournament field, here is the breakdown of the entire Champions Challenge field:

DIVISION I – #1 Mt. Carmel, #3 Archbishop Chapelle, #4 St. Joseph’s Academy (Baton Rouge), #7 East Ascension, #13 St. Amant, #31 Northshore
DIVISION II – #1 Teurlings Catholic (Lafayette), #2 Cabrini, #5 St. Thomas More (Lafayette), #7 South Lafourche, #19 St. Scholastica Academy
DIVISION III – #2 E.D. White, #3 Westlake (Lake Charles area), #4 Vandebilt Catholic, #6 Parkview Baptist
DIVISION IV – #1 Pope John Paul, #2 Archbishop Hannan, #3 Notre Dame (Crowley), #27 Riverside Academy
DIVISION V – #1 Country Day, #2 Ascension Episcopal

Cabrini, Country Day, Archbishop Hannan, Mt. Carmel, St. Joseph’s Academy, St. Scholastica Academy, Vandebilt Catholic and Thibodaux will compete in the JV field.