Cape Girardeau’s Show Me Center To Host MSHSAA Volleyball Championships Through 2014

COLUMBIA, MO. – The Missouri State High School Activities Association announced Wednesday that its Girls Volleyball Championships will move to Cape Girardeau’s

Show Me Center, beginning in November 2011.

The 36-year-old championship has been held at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City the previous three years.  Prior to being held in Kansas City, the championship was played exclusively on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg since 1988.

The Show Me Center is a multipurpose facility located on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Since opening its doors in 1987 this joint project between the City of Cape Girardeau and the State of Missouri has matured into a regional facility serving the 250,000 residents of Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, and Western Kentucky. The Show Me Center, which annually hosts 250 meeting room and 160 arena events, is an entertainment, meeting, and gathering center.

Consisting of a 7,000-seat arena, three concourses and six meeting rooms, the Show Me Center was designed with flexibility in mind. Telescopic lower level arena seating allows for a wide assortment of arena configurations and ease in changeover from event to event. With its retractable seating, the arena can be transformed into a 32,000 square foot exhibit hall in mere hours. Not only can large arena events take place on successive evenings, but the building’s design allows for multiple events to take place simultaneously.

The tournament’s format will remain the same, featuring two competition courts for Friday’s round-robin semifinals and one playing court for Saturday’s championship and third-place matches. All told, 24 matches are played on Friday to determine the matchups for Saturday’s four third-place and four championship matches. Sixteen teams -- four teams in each of the MSHSAA’s four volleyball classifications -- advance to the championship site each year.