Their goal was to bring the state volleyball tournament to Central Nebraska.

Well, they gave it a good shot.

The committee, led by Grand Island Hall County Executive Director Renee Seifert, made its best pitch to the Nebraska Schools Activities Association's board of directors.

It was a strong bid. It included free parking and a large chunk of change to go along.

It included some very good venues like the new Heartland Events Center in Grand Island and the Sports Arena in Hastings. Both would be excellent sites for state tournament events.

But the group couldn't guarantee attendance. Who could? A November snow storm could keep volleyball fans at home no matter where the tournament is held.

The NSAA was worried about attendance because of what happened with the state softball tournament moving from Omaha to Hastings.

Attendance was down about 2,000 last fall at the Smith Complex, but that can be misleading. Softball isn't nearly as strong in this area of the state as volleyball.

The committee also couldn't do anything about the Husker football schedule, and that really was the big reason the NSAA elected to leave the state tournament in Lincoln.

The Huskers are on the road during the state volleyball tournament for the next two years. When the Huskers are gone, that mans the NU Coliseum can be used for the state championship matches on Saturday.

And you can't argue too much with that. It may be an older venue, but there's nothing that says volleyball in this state better than the NU Coliseum.

If the Nebraska football team had been at home the next two years, the state tournament very well could have been coming to Central Nebraska.

But with the Coliseum available, it was going to take something special to get the NSAA to move the tournament.

This may have been Grand Island's only shot to get the tournament. The 2010 and 2011 tournaments will be up for bids a year from now, but Seifert isn't sure the group will make another bid.

If Lincoln gets the new downtown arena it's hoping for by 2012, it will be next to impossible to pry the state tournament out of that city.

Seifert said Grand Island may be better off concentrating on other sporting events like Hoops Mania instead of putting so much time and effort into something that's probably not going to happen.