DAYTON–The Dayton-Waitsburg Combined Athletics program will start practices Monday, February 15 on the prospect that the region advances to Phase 2 prior to the first contests.

Dayton-Waitsburg volleyball players will travel to Dayton for practices and DW football practice will be in Waitsburg. Locker rooms will be closed; players are expected to suit up and be ready for practice when arriving at the court or field, or to the bus.

Volleyball matches will be held in Dayton and football games in Waitsburg.

If any matches are canceled, for any reason, DW Athletic Director Stephanie Wooderchak notes, there will be no league championships in either volleyball or football.

The volleyball program starts play at Mabton February 23. There are varsity and junior varsity matches anticipated with jayvees starting at 5:30 p.m. on games which occur on weeknights, 6:30 p.m. is the varsity match time. There are four Saturday matches for DW, at TriCities Prep on February 27, hosting River View on March 6, at Walla Walla Valley Academy on March 13 and versus Columbia-Burbank on March 20. Saturday junior varsity matches begin at noon with the varsity match following.

Schools fielding volleyball teams are Columbia-Burbank, River View, Walla Walla Valley Academy, TriCities Prep, Mabton, Kittitas, White Swan, Highland (Cowiche), Cle Elum-Roslyn and Granger. Due to the uneven number of teams, a bye is in the schedule.

Dayton-Waitsburg Football anticipates its first game against Highland at Waitsburg, 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 27. The region must be in Phase 2 for the game to be played.

DW opens with a Saturday game the commences with the next three on Friday, the next-to-last game on Thursday, March 25, and the crossover games on Tuesday, March 30. Except for the 1 p.m. game on Saturday, February 27, all games will start at 7 p.m. (See the schedule in the Dayton Events and Activities Roster ad on this page).

The accompanying table shows the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference COVID Guidelines, including topics such as maximum number of spectators, status of concessions, locker rooms, cheer, etc.