This is one time it’s kosher to say “hillbilly” in Tennessee.

The University of Tennessee will be hosting the 6th Annual Hillbilly

Classic Water Polo Tournament on Saturday and Sunday at the UT Aquatic

Center.

Twelve teams from around the country will converge on Knoxville for the

tournament, which consists of four groups of three teams. Each team will

play the two teams in its group. The group winners advance to Sunday’s

semifinal round.

Games are scheduled to go off at 50-minute intervals. The final is set for

1:50 p.m. on Sunday.

“It’s a really high-caliber tournament,” said UT club president Allen

Higginbotham. “We put on a really great tournament and have a good

time.”

Besides Tennessee, other teams competing include Ohio State, Michigan

State, Dayton, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Florida, Florida State, North

Carolina State, Raleigh and 1997 club champions Michigan.

Tennessee will kick off the tournament at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday against

North Carolina State. Their second group game will be at 2:10 p.m. Saturday

against Ohio State.

The Vols’ leading players, according to Higginbotham, are goalie Brian

Fowler, Kris Kitzke on defense and field player Brent Rosen.

Tennessee plays in the Southern Collegiate Conference (SCC).

“Our club’s been here seven years,” Higginbotham said. “We’ve been growing.

We finished second to Florida last year in the SCC, and last fall we had

our first women’s tournament.”

Higginbotham encourages students to come out this weekend and help support

the team.