WARSAW – The Warsaw volleyball team has raced out of the gate to a perfect 7-0 start.

Coach Mike Howard’s team will get a true measuring stick of just where they are at a couple of weeks into the season come Saturday.

The Tigers will be one of eight teams taking part in the outstanding field at the Mishawaka Invitational at John Young Middle School.

Warsaw, which beat Homestead 3-0 at home Monday night, is one of four teams in the loaded White Pool for the annual event. The Tigers will face Class 4-A No. 8 Carmel in the first pool play match at 9 a.m. Saturday. Warsaw is then slated to play Class 3-A No. 11 Mishawaka Marian at approximately 11 a.m. and then Class 4-A No. 10 and Northern Lakes Conference rival Elkhart Memorial at 1 p.m.

Warsaw is scheduled to host Elkhart Memorial next Tuesday (Sept. 1)  in the NLC opener for both teams. The Tigers topped the Crimson Chargers 3-2 last year en route to winning the NLC championship at 7-0. It was the second league title in the last three years for Howard’s program after a decade of dominance in the NLC by coach Jacquie Rost’s Memorial program.

The White Pool, which will play in the Auxiliary Gym, also has Memorial versus Marian at 10 a.m., Memorial taking on Carmel at noon and Marian versus Carmel at 2 p.m.

Carmel beat Cathedral, which is also in the Mishawaka Invitational field, 3-1 to win the Class 4-A state championship in 2014. Carmel beat Memorial 3-0 in the title match of the Huntington North Semistate en route to the state title.

Marian lost 3-0 to Fort Wayne Concordia last season in a semifinal match of the Twin Lakes Semistate. Concordia went on to win the Class 3-A state championship.

The Maroon Pool, which will play in the Main Gym, features Class 4-A No. 1 Indianapolis Cathedral. Cathedral plays South Bend St. Joseph at 9 a.m. in the opening match of pool play. Host Mishawaka then faces Lafayette Harrison at 10 a.m., followed by Cathedral-Harrison at 11, Mishawaka-St. Joe at noon, Cathedral-Mishawaka at 1 p.m. and Harrison-St. Joe at 2.

The second and fourth place matches are scheduled to begin at approximately 3 p.m. with the championship match and the third place match following at around 4 p.m.

Doors at John Young Middle School will open Saturday at 8 a.m. Admission is $7 for adults and students with those younger than six admitted for free.