Volleyball season is right around the corner.

For most of the teams in St. Tammany Parish, 2010 begins with the Northshore Jam of Champs. The action gets underway at 3:30 p.m.

The jamboree features 14 teams, 11 of them local. There are two NHS teams as their junior varsity group is also playing.

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Everyone will play three one-game matches to 25 against different opponents.

“We’re very grateful that folks come and that most of the teams in the parish, sometimes all of the teams in the parish, choose to come to our jamboree to compete,” said Northshore coach Sandy Blancher, who enters her 19th as the head coach of the Lady Panthers.

Blancher said they have a lot of fun hosting it.

“It takes a great-team effort from our parents and our coaching staff and P.E. Department to run it,” Blancher said.

The jamboree is broken up into three pools, “A” “B” and “C.”

Pool “A” has Northshore’s varsity team, Pearl River, Archbishop Hannan and Our Lady Academy out of Bay St. Louis, Miss.

The Pool “B” teams are Fontainebleau, Slidell, Mandeville and St. Scholastica Academy.

In Pool “C,” Northlake Christian School, Covington, Salmen, Northshore’s JV team, St. Thomas Aquinas and Loranger.

Pool “A” and “B” matches begin at 3:30. Pool “A” plays on Court 1, while “B” is on Court 2. The opening contests are NHS squaring off with Pearl River on Court 1, while FHS and SHS go against each other on Court 2.

Pool C will use both courts and they are set to begin at 6:30. The participating squads had different levels of success in 2009.

The jamboree features two teams that are three-time state champions in NCS and Our Lady Academy. One squad made it to the state semifinals in FHS. There is a pair of 2009-quarterfinal teams with MHS and SSA, while four squads Hannan, Pearl River, Slidell and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Covington and Loranger both were in postseason play last year, while Northshore and Salmen failed to qualify. Admission is $5.