One of the great aspects of sports is rivalry, and in Lawrence that can apply to the junior high schools. This year marks the 10th year for the city volleyball quadrangular featuring South, West, Central and Southwest junior highs. The event is a volleyball showdown — which takes place at 5 p.m. tonight at Free State High — that allows junior high schools to show what they’ve been working on all season, the title of being the best in the city.

While the intra-city teams play plenty of matches throughout the season, it seems some of the players’ emphasis lies on the city quad. Whether it’s the opportunity to show the other schools whose best, or just the friendly competition between friends at different schools, the round-robin tournament always proves to be an all around good tournament to see.

“It’s a tendency to see most teams really switch gears and play tough for the City Quad,” said coach Patty Coffey, head coach for the Southwest freshmen volleyball team. “This is the tournament of the year for these girls, most of them knowing other kids from other schools, or just the fact that this is for a big title here in the city; I like to call it a healthy competition.”

The Southwest Bulldogs are walking into the city quad with an impressive 10-0 record, as well as a recent win at the Ottawa Invitational, making it their eighth win at the invitational in nine years.

“We really wanted to win the Ottawa Invitational,” Coffey said. “And now that we have that goal under our belt, it’s time to take on the next one, which for us is the City Quad.”

Coffey and the Bulldogs go into the city quad as the defending champions, and with this season being Coffey’s last before retirement, the Bulldogs hit the city quad with high expectations and a strong history to live up to.