Spokane’s major sporting facilities are filled this weekend with female athletes and the people who enjoy watching them.
Volleyball teams comprised of girls ages 11-15 are playing in four venues for the Pacific Northwest Qualifier. They’re at The Podium, Spokane Convention Center, the HUB Sports Center in Spokane Valley and Eastern Washington University. The winning teams advance to the USA Volleyball national tournaments.
Most of the attention is going to the eight teams playing in this weekend’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The winners of Sunday’s and Monday’s regional finals will head to the Final Four.
Spokane has had a few years to prepare for the tournament, says Stephanie Curran, the CEO of the Public Facilities District, which operates the Arena, the Podium and One Spokane Stadium.
“We are one of the cities that the NCAA doesn't even often send their VIP head people because they know we've done this so many times that we do such a good job. They're kind of like, you're good. We'll have some people here from the NCAA, but a lot of that, last year, they let us just run it on our own, basically.”
