One of the state’s biggest and most talent-filled volleyball tournaments will be held in Bend on Saturday for its 40th edition.

The Clearwater Classic has been staged continuously in Bend since 1984 (only missed in 2020 due to the pandemic) and has routinely hosted many of the top volleyball programs in the state.

This year is no different.

The late-season tournament played two weeks before the postseason always seems to host teams that go on to win state titles in their respective classifications.

Highlighting the field are five of the top-10 Class 6A teams — No. 3 Sprague, No. 5 West Linn, No. 6 Grant, No. 8 North Medford and No. 10 South Salem — to go along with the six teams from the 5A Intermountain Conference, which has two top-10 teams in No. 3 Bend High and No. 9 Summit. No. 6 Crater (5A) is also in the field. Crook County, 4A’s No. 3 team, will also be competing.

Nine times in the last 10 years the teams that reached the finals of the Clearwater Classic have gone on to play in the state championship match.

In 2017, Summit beat Bend for the Clearwater Classic title, then a couple of weeks later Bend defeated Summit in the 5A state title match. When Summit won in 2017 it was the last time that a Central Oregon volleyball team claimed the Clearwater championship. The only other local team to win the tournament was Crook County in 2007. The Lava Bears have reached the championship match three times (2022, 2018 and 2017) but have never won.

Saturday’s tournament spans three different high schools in Bend. Caldera hosts the bronze bracket, Summit hosts the silver bracket, while the top bracket (the gold bracket) will be played at Bend High.

Matches start at 8 a.m.