The San Diego Section girls volleyball playoffs – now seven divisions strong – faced off Oct. 23 with a bead on crowning champions on the weekend of Nov. 3-4.
South County has a conspicuous presence, as usual, with 14 teams represented.
League champions receive automatic entry into this year’s playoffs. Those teams locally included Eastlake (Metro-Mesa League), Hilltop (Metro-South Bay League) and Sweetwater (Metro-Pacific League).
“Every year we made strides towards this championship,” Sweetwater coach Erick Hernandez said. “We have a combination of experienced and young newcomers who came together to put together a complete team.
“We have four starting seniors along with two starting freshmen. Our teamsis made up of eight seniors and seven underclassmen. The older players started during the COVID season with lower skills but have put in so much work over three years to become all-league players. This championship was special because it was a three-year journey. It was an amazing complete game against San Ysidro (3-0 win on Oct. 20) to finish league at 6-0 record.”
Sweetwater hosted a 54-team preseason tournament with seven divisions. San Marcos won the Gold Bracket title.
Many of those teams are represented in this year’s multi-divisional section playoff field.
Elite Eight
The Open Division includes the eight teams with Otay Ranch earning the No. 5 seed and Eastlake earning the No. 8 seed.
Quarterfinal-round play took place on Thursday, Oct. 26, with winners advancing to the semifinals on Tuesday, Oct. 31. The division championship game is scheduled Friday, Nov. 3, at the University of San Diego’s Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Eastlake finished as this year’s Metro-Mesa League champion with an 8-1 league record ahead of runner-up Otay Ranch, which finished with a 6-2 league record ahead of Mater Dei Catholic (4-4 in league, third place), Bonita Vista (2-6 in league, fourth place) and Olympian (0-8 in league, fifth place).
Both Eastlake and Otay Ranch were swept by higher-seeded teams in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Top-seeded Cathedral Catholic downed visiting Eastlake 25-21, 25-12, 25-8 while fourth-seeded Bishop’s defeated visiting Otay Ranch in three contentious games 25-18, 25-21, 25-17.
The top-seeded Lady Dons (30-4) advance to meet the fourth-seeded Lady Knights (31-7) in Tuesday’s semifinals.
In the lower bracket, second-seeded Torrey Pines defeated seventh-seeded San Marcos in four games, 3-1, while third-seeded Westview defeated sixth-seeded San Dieguito Academy also in four games.
The second-seeded Lady Falcons (23-5) will host the third-seeded Lady Wolverines (23-8) in Tuesday’s semifinals.
The championship game is set for an 8 p.m. start at USD.
Open Division teams qualify for the state playoffs. Otay Ranch (43-8) will host Eastlake (26-12) in a play-in bracket game on Thursday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m.
Besides the Open Division, post-season competition also includes Division I (16 teams), Division II (16 teams), Division III (16 teams), Division IV (16 teams), Division V (12 teams) and Division V-AA (13 teams).
Southwestern College will host championship games for teams in Division I through Division V-AA. Games on Nov. 3 include Division II (7 p.m.). Games on Nov. 4 include Division V-AA (10 a.m.), Division V (12:30 p.m.), Division IV (3 p.m.), Division III (5:30 p.m.) and Division I (8 p.m.)
El Capitan received the top seed in Division I. Other top seeds include Helix (Division II), San Pasqual (Division III), Valley Center (Division IV), Lincoln (Division V) and Borrego Springs (Division V-AA).
Quarterfinals are scheduled Friday, Oct. 27, and Saturday, Oct. 28.
Helix (22-8) will host ninth-seeded University City (20-12) on Friday while Valley Center (16-14) will host eighth-seeded High Tech High Mesa (17-23). Borrego Springs (16-5) will host the eighth-seeded Rock Academy (8-13) in another Friday quarterfinal match-up. Games times are 7 p.m.
El Capitan (27-8) will host eighth-seeded La Jolla (13-15) on Saturday while San Pasqual (29-8) will host ninth-seeded Central Union (24-18). Lincoln (26-4) will host eighth-seeded Health Sciences (6-4-1), also on Saturday. Most games are scheduled at 5 p.m.
Playoff Seeding (South County teams)
Division I
Bonita Vista, last year’s Division II champion, received the No. 13 seed in this year’s Division I bracket and met No. 4 Carlsbad in Wednesday’s opening round. The Lady Barons (11-18) exited with a 3-1 loss (16-25, 21-25, 25-21, 21-25) while playing a highly competitive match-up. Carlsbad hosts No. 5-seeded Del Norte (20-13) in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Division II
Mater Dei Catholic received the No. 10 seed while Chula Vista Learning Community Charter received the No. 16 seed. Both teams fell in 3-0 sweeps to higher-seeded opponents.
Mater Dei Catholic (24-13) lost to seventh-seeded Vista (26-14) while Helix eliminated CVLCC (18-6) by scores of 25-19, 25-17, 25-14. CVLCC qualified as the Frontier Summit League champion (10-0 in league).
Second-seeded Pacific Ridge (20-10) hosts Vista in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Division IV
A bounty of five South County teams gained admission. Ocean View Christian Academy received the No. 3 seed, Hilltop received the No. 4 seed Victory Christian Academy received the No. 5 seed, Mar Vista received the No. 12 seed while Southwest received the No. 14 seed.
Hilltop captured the Metro-South Bay League regular season title with a 6-0 league record ahead of Mar Vista (3-3 in league), Montgomery (3-3 in league) and Southwest (0-6 in league).
The Lady Lancers (20-13) defeated the 13th-seeded San Diego Jewish Academy (6-11) in a narrow three-game sweep (26-24, 25-23, 25-17) in Tuesday’s opening round to advance against Victory Christian (18-10) in Friday’s quarterfinals.
VCA eliminated Mar Vista (9-20) in a 3-0 sweep in Tuesday’s opening round, winning by scores of 25-17, 25-16, 25-10.
Ocean View, the Frontier-Patriot League champion, eliminated Southwest (11-25) in a three-game sweep (25-15, 25-19, 25-18) in Tuesday’s opening round to advance to meet sixth-seeded Tri-City Christian (17-7) in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Ocean View (8-0 in league) improved to 16-1 on the season.
Division V
Sweetwater received the No. 4 seed while San Ysidro received the No. 9 seed and Bayfront Charter received the No. 12 seed.
Sweetwater finished 6-0 in league play while finishing ahead of San Ysidro (3-3 in league), Chula Vista (2-4 in league) and Castle Park (1-5 in league).
The Lady Red Devils (19-16) received a bye to Saturday’s quarterfinals and will host Bayfront Charter (9-8) in an all-South County match-up after the Lady Sharks upset No. 5 Orange Glen in five games, 3-2, in Wednesday’s opening round.
Bayfront Charter finished 5-3 in the Frontier-Sierra League standings behind league champion O’Farrell Charter (8-0 in league),.
San Ysidro (11-17) ended its season with a 3-2 loss to No. 8 Health Sciences (6-4-1) in Wednesday’s opening round.
Division V-AA
National City’s San Diego Academy represents South County in this newest division. The Lady Cavaliers received the No. 4 seed and a bye to Thursday’s quarterfinal game against fifth-seeded Calexico Mission.\
San Diego Academy (12-11) won in a three-game sweep (25-20, 25-21, 25-23) over the Lady RoadRunners (9-10) to continue its season in Tuesday’s semifinals.
