Daily Hampshire Gazette – MIAA hockey and volleyball brackets postponed due to court order

Volleyball and hockey teams will have to wait at least another day before finding out their seeds and opponents in the upcoming MIAA state tournament.

The volleyball and hockey brackets were scheduled to be released Tuesday, but after the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District and individual student plaintiffs filed an injunction in Hampden Superior Court on Friday and the injunction was issued in favor of the plaintiffs on Monday, the MIAA has announced that the release of braces will be postponed.

The injunction was filed following the decision by the MIAA and PVIAC to punish schools whose schedules were not properly filled with placeholder games for the PVIAC/Western Mass. tournament before the September 13 deadline set by the MIAA.

The original punishment was to keep Mohawk Trail, Pioneer, Northampton, Minnechaug, Lenox, Lee, Hopkins and several Springfield schools out of the Western Mass tournament entirely. The PVIAC and MIAA came together and decided that those schools could participate in the Western Mass. tournament, but that any game they played would automatically count as a state tournament forfeit loss regardless of the outcome.

For example, the Pioneer boys soccer team played eighth-seeded Mount Everett in the opening round of the Class D tournament and won 5-1, but the game was recorded as a 3-0 loss in the schedule. That meant the Panthers' state tournament rankings took a hit, falling from the No. 18-ranked team in the Div. 5 field to No. 27. The Pioneers' ranking will also likely suffer regardless of the result against Smith Academy in Tuesday's semifinal.

That is far from the only case. The Mohawk Trail volleyball team went 13-1 during the regular season and won the Western Mass. Class D championship, but fell from a top 16 finish and was thus given the opportunity to host a Round of 32 match to No. 20 in the Div. . 5 rankings.

The MIAA ruling also changed the rankings of teams not involved in the decision. The Turners Falls volleyball team lost to Mohawk Trail in the Class D semifinals, but since it counted as a forfeit win on the schedule, Turners moved up to No. 15 and will likely host a Round of 32 match and it doesn't have to to happen. get going.

The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District and individual Monson High School students are fighting to overturn the decision and ensure these games are not counted as losses. If it wants to win the injunction, the rankings would have to be completely reworked, but the MIAA court will have to challenge this.

The order was issued without a hearing, the MIAA said in a news release Tuesday. As a result, we asked for and were given the opportunity to be heard by the judge.

The order, as currently written, will impact the seeding process and the clear and accurate release of state tournament brackets, impacting seeding for multiple teams in multiple divisions in both sports, the press release continued. We have consistently stated that we will advocate on behalf of the whole and not on behalf of the one. On numerous occasions, the school district admitted that it was not adhering to MIAA protocols. It is wrong that these potential consequences would negatively impact the vast majority of member schools in the state that did follow the prescribed process. That is why we are looking for further solutions in this matter.

In the MIAA's opposition to the motion, which was filed Tuesday, the organization said the plaintiffs cannot demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits, specifically noting that Minnechaug's principal had admitted in writing that the school on the was aware of the MIAA rules on this subject.

The opposition also sought to prove that the plaintiffs failed to show irreparable harm, saying the named schools will still play in the state tournaments under substantially similar conditions as they might otherwise have played.

And finally, the MIAA opposition disagreed with the motions stating that the balance of damages from a preliminary injunction is in MIAA's favor. As noted in their press release, the organization explained to the court that changing recorded losses to wins will disrupt the power rankings, tournament formats and game locations of literally hundreds of tournaments across the state. The hockey and volleyball tournaments start on Thursday.

If the order fails and the seeds hold, here's where each team in Hampshire and Franklin counties will be seeded based on the most recent power rankings released Tuesday. With the threshold for volleyball and hockey competitions already crossed, these would be the seeds unless the court overturns the MIAA's decision, forcing a complete reshuffling of the rankings.

In Division 3 volleyball, Amherst is ranked No. 34, while Belchertown is ranked No. 37. Frontier is ranked No. 6 in Div. 4 while South Hadley is at number 33. In Misc. 5, Turners Falls is at No. 15, Mohawk Trail is at No. 20, Smith Vocational is at No. 34, Mahar comes in at No. 38 and Greenfield is at No. 44.

In hockey, Amherst is ranked No. 33 in Div. 2 while indiv. 3, Belchertown is ranked No. 23. Frontier is ranked No. 4 in Div. 4 followed by Greenfield at number 17, Franklin Tech at number 30 and Smith Academy at number 32.

The MIAA said it hopes the brackets will be released as soon as possible.

Please rest assured that the brackets will be released once this matter is resolved, the MIAA said in its statement. Our goal is to release the hockey and volleyball brackets on Wednesday (October 30). We will give you an update on Wednesday morning. The integrity, clarity and accuracy of our brackets must be a priority at this time.