Ross Christian Academy to Host Inaugural Boys' Volleyball Tourney

The Ross County Christian Academy (RCCA) will host the inaugural edition of what is hoped to become an annual tournament for boys’ high school volleyball this weekend.

The Eagles Volleyball Team will welcome three other area schools to its Egypt Pike gymnasium this Saturday, May 13th. Those visiting teams are Hillsboro Christian Academy, Dominion Academy from the Dayton area, and CHESS Christian from Springboro.

RCCA Boys’ Volleyball Coach Nathan Vitatoe says the RCCA Eagles are still in their first season, and played their final regular home match on Thursday of this week, but since the school doesn’t yet belong to an official athletic conference for boys’ volleyball, the school’s Athletic Director, Roy Kelley, sought to put together a local tourney for the Eagles and other area Christian school teams to compete in.

“We’re really excited as this is the first year we’ve ever had boys’ volleyball," said Kelley. "It’s been a great experience to watch these boys play and we’re hoping and praying that we get a lot of fans come out. We’re not charging the teams any kind of fee to come into the tournament, we’re just hoping for a good gate."

Boys’ Volleyball has seen a marked increase in popularity over the past few years, with more and more schools beginning to offer the sport as part of their athletic programming. Eagles Head Coach Nathan Vitatoe is brother to Chillicothe Cavs Boys' Volleyball Coach Andrew Vitatoe, who began that team around seven years ago.

With help from RCCA Leader, Dr. Valerie Jones, Nathan and AD Kelley last year began gauging interest from students in establishing their own boys’ volleyball program.

“Dr. Valerie Jones approached me because I’d been trying to get different things going at the Ross County Christian Academy so we can get more kids involved, so we started talking about different things we wanted to do, said Kelley. “I knew about Chillicothe’s boys’ volleyball team and Nathan approached me about coaching and I said I’d love to get a team started. We then sent out a flyer asking how many boys might be interested and at that time I think it was ten or eleven that said yeah, we’d like to play, so we thought we’d give it shot.”

Coach Vitatoe credits one of his lead players for recruiting other students to the team.

“Our Captain, Gabe Bevin, a sophomore, started encouraging many of his classmates to try out for volleyball last year,” said Vitatoe. “This year, we were able to put a team together.”

Next week the RCCA will be meeting with other area schools to begin talks on starting a local Christian conference for boys’ volleyball.

“We’re having our first meeting the coming Monday night with Hillsboro Christian, Scioto Christian from Portsmouth, Adams County Christian, Wilmington Christian and Fayette Christian out of Washington CH,” said Kelley. Hopefully there will be a Christian Conference, not next year, but the year after.”

The first serve of Saturday’s tournament goes out at 11:00 a.m. at the Ross County Christian Academy Gymnasium. The championship game will begin at 6:00 p.m.

The Ross County Christian Academy is located at 2215 Egypt Pike, on the outskirts of northwestern Chillicothe.

Admission to the tournament will be $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for students and seniors.

The Ross County Christian Academy Boosters will be providing concessions throughout the day.


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