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The local version of March Madness — the tradition-rich Haili Volleyball Tournament — will be held Monday through Saturday this week with the top division finals played at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

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The 55th edition of the Haili has a total of 126 teams — smaller than in past years, but it still promises to be filled with high-intensity matches, especially in the men’s and women’s AA as well as girls 18 divisions this time around.

“The number of teams is probably smaller this year for a couple of reasons,” longtime Haili official Pat Engelhard said. “One, it could be the tight economy, and two, the nationals will be held this year in a western state — in Salt Lake City, Utah, in May — and that’s the first time in a while. A lot of teams want to go to the nationals this year.”

Engelhard also noted that two highly regarded women’s AA teams, the UH Wahine and Rusty Wahine, won’t compete this year.

“But the S’Hawaiians are coming back and they provide a lot of excitement,” Engelhard said. “This year, they’ve added former Rainbow Wahine standouts Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Kanani Danielson to their roster, and the S’Hawaiians are definitely the team to beat in the women’s AA.”

In the men’s AA, defending champion Kailua, runner-up RZN and third-place CUDAGS are not returning, thus opening the title door for one of the other highly competitive men’s teams, including local powerhouse Big Island Roots, an annual contender in the division.

The tournament opens Monday with 48 Junior Division teams, mostly girls, playing through Wednesday, and 78 Adult Division teams battling Wednesday through Saturday.

On Monday, the Kuhio Day holiday, games are scheduled at Hilo Civic, UH-Hilo, Waiakea High and Hilo Armory, starting at 2 p.m.

On Tuesday, to accommodate students in the Junior division, Engelhard said games will start at the same sites at 4 p.m.

On Wednesday, the six Juniors championship matches will be played on two courts at the Civic from 4 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony at about 7 p.m. There will be no other games at the Civic that evening although the other sites will have Men’s and Women’s B games starting at 4 p.m.

On Thursday, one match will be played at UH-Hilo at 11 a.m. while the other sites, except Waiakea High, will start at noon. Waiakea will start at 4:10 p.m.

On Friday, all courts except Waiakea will start at 11 a.m., with Waiakea starting at 4:30 p.m.

On Saturday, all championship matches will be held at the Civic, starting at 9 a.m. and ending at about 1 p.m.

The public is welcome to watch the matches all week. There is no admission charge, and there will be food concessions at each site.