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The girls volleyball brackets kicked off the CIF Southern Section playoff season on Saturday morning. Volleyball is the first of the fall sports to embark on the postseason, and a ton of area teams will be competing.
There are two double-local matchups — one in Division 2 between Village Christian (24-7) and Harvard-Westlake and another in Division 4 between Newbury Park and Royal.
Royal (22-5), which won the Coastal Canyon League title in its league finale against Simi Valley, hosts Newbury Park (10-13). It’ll be a rematch from mid-August, when the Highlanders beat the Panthers in five sets.
“There’s so many changes the teams go through over the course of the season, I feel like it’s going to be a new experience for both sides,” Royal coach Kristine Connolly said. “I know they’ve been playing really well, we’ve been playing really well.”
The Highlanders are striving for a long playoff run after being eliminated in the second round in 2019 and in the first round last season.
“They want to do well,” Connolly said. “That’s really going to be a positive thing for us. That’s going to be really one of our things, that there’s a lot of confidence in each other.”
Village Christian, the first-place finisher of the Olympic League, heads into the postseason under first-year coach Hannah Tedrow. Harvard Westlake (23-15) reached the playoffs as an at-large bid after finishing fourth in the Mission League behind Sierra Canyon, Marymount and Alemany.
Royal (22-5), which won the Coastal Canyon League title in its league finale against Simi Valley, hosts Newbury Park (10-13). It’ll be a rematch from mid-August, when the Highlanders beat the Panthers in five sets.
All first-round matches will be on Thursday, Oct. 20.
Sierra Canyon (29-4) was named the No. 2 seed in Division 1 behind No. 1-seeded Mira Costa. The Trailblazers begin pool play against No. 6-seeded Newport Harbor on Wednesday, Oct. 19 before playing No. 7-seeded Huntington Beach on the following Tuesday and No. 3-seeded Marymount that Saturday.
Sierra Canyon, which will have home advantage for all three games, split its league series with Marymount, with the Trailblazers winning the first matchup with a sweep and losing in four sets in the second.
The Division 1 finals are set for Saturday, Nov. 5 at Cerritos College.
Here are some more first-round matchups Thursday, Oct. 20:
Division 3
Alemany (Mission No. 3) at Mayfield (Prep No. 1); Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy (Angelus No. 2) at Torrance (Pioneer No. 1); West Ranch (Foothill No. 4) at Serrano (Mojave River No. 1); Notre Dame Sherman Oaks (Angelus No. 3) at St. Margarets (Orange Coast No. 1); Yucaipa (Citrus Belt at-large) Oaks Christian (Marmonte No. 1); San Marcos (channel No. 2T) at Hart (Foothill No. 2T); Santa Monica (Bay at-large) at Chaminade (Angelus No. 1)
Division 4
Saugus (Foothill No. 1) bye; Thousand Oaks (Marmonte No. 3) at Warren (Gateway No. 1); Burroughs (Pacific No. 4) at Santa Barbara (Channel No. 1)
Division 5
Westridge (Prep No. 3) at Valencia (Foothill No. 2T)