The San Diego Section girls volleyball and girls tennis playoffs started this week with a good number of East County teams in tow.
El Capitan High School received the No. 1 seed in the 16-team Division I girls volleyball bracket while Christian High School received the No. 1 seed in the Division III bracket.
Grossmont Hills League champion El Capitan (10-0 in league, 27-9 overall) was set to host 16th-seeded Our Lady of Peace (4-27) in Wednesday’s opening round while City Eastern League champion Christian (7-1 in league, 25-8 overall) was scheduled to host 16th-seeded Valley Center (9-19) on Wednesday.
Patrick Henry (ninth seed) and Grossmont Hills League runner-up Valhalla (10th seed) also qualified for Wednesday’s opening round in Division I while Grossmont Valley League co-champion Granite Hills (fifth seed) and Grossmont (14th seed) also qualified for Wednesday’s opening round in Division III.
Helix, seeded 15th, opened the Division II playoffs with a 3-0 setback (15-25, 16-25, 19-25) at second-seeded Otay Ranch in Tuesday’s opening round. The Highlanders finished the season 16-15 overall, 5-5 in league play.
The Division I and Division III quarterfinals are scheduled Saturday, Oct. 30, followed by semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 3. The Division I, Division II and Division III championship games are slated for Nov. 6 at Cathedral Catholic High School.
Six divisional champions will be crowned in girls volleyball this fall: Division I, Division II, Division III, Division IV and Division V besides the Open Division.
Five East County teams qualified for the Division IV playoffs: Santana (second seed), Liberty Charter (third seed), Foothills Christian (fourth seed), Monte Vista (ninth seed) and El Cajon Valley (13th seed).
Grossmont Valley League co-champion Santana (7-1 in league) hosted 15th-seeded Escondido Adventist in Tuesday’s opening round while Liberty Charter hosted 14th-seeded Calvin Christian.
Santana (20-3) won in a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-13, 25-19) while Liberty Charter (11-12) also won 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-15).
Metro-South Bay League runner-up Hilltop hosted Monte Vista (4-4 in Grossmont Valley League) in Tuesday’s opening round while Foothills Christian (7-4 in Pacific League) hosted El Cajon Valley.
Hilltop (16-17) won 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-11, 25-10) while Foothills Christian (17-11) also won in a sweep.
Monte Vista finished its season 14-10 while El Cajon Valley finished 7-23 overall.
Mountain Empire (8-0 in Frontier-Sierra League, 16-14 overall) received the No. 12 seed in the Division V bracket and was scheduled to play at No. 5 High Tech High Mesa (3-1 in Frontier-Pioneer League, 9-7 overall) in Tuesday’s opening round.
The Division IV and Division V quarterfinals are scheduled Friday, Oct. 29, followed by the semifinals on Tuesday, Nov. 2, and the championship games Nov. 5 at Canyon Crest Academy.
Girls tennis
Sixteen teams qualified in Division I and Division II while Division III featured a pair of play-in games to the 16-team tournament bracket.
Steele Canyon received the No. 1 seed in the Division II bracket while Santana received the No. 1 seed in the Division III bracket.
Steele Canyon (12-2) hosted 16th-seeded Southwest El Centro in Tuesday’s opening round, winning 11-7, while Santana was scheduled to host the Christian Patriots on Wednesday after Christian defeated Horizon Prep, 13-5 in Tuesday’s play-in round.
Four Grossmont Conference teams received berths in the Division III bracket, with Helix receiving the No. 4 seed, West Hills the No. 6 seed and Granite Hills the No. 10 seed to join Steele Canyon in the battle for supremacy on the playing court.
Helix hosted the 13th-seeded Calexico Bulldogs in Tuesday’s opening round, winning 11-7, while West Hills hosted 11th-seeded Clairemont, winning 16-2. Granite Hills (8-7) pulled an 11-7 upset win at seventh-seeded Morse to meet second-seeded University City in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Grossmont joined Steele Canyon in the Division II bracket and drew a road match at fourth-seeded Olympian in Tuesday’s opening round. The Foothillers scored a 12-6 upset win to advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinal match against fifth-seeded Carlsbad.
Valhalla received the No. 14 seed in the Division I playoff field and battled third-seeded Scripps Ranch in Tuesday’s opening round; the Norsemen (13-2) ended their season with an 18-0 loss.
Patrick Henry received the No. 8 seed in the elite eight-team Open Division and was paired against top-seeded Canyon Crest Academy in Tuesday’s opening round. Canyon Crest Academy emerged with a 15-3 victory to eliminate the Patriots.
It’s a fast track to this weekend’s finals as first-round winners advanced to Wednesday’s quarterfinals in most divisions and quarterfinal winners advanced to Thursday’s semifinals.
The Division I and Division II championship games are scheduled Friday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. at the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma while the Division III title clash is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 30, at the same site and time.
The Open Division championship game was scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 28, at the Barnes Tennis Center.
