High schools have had heated play during season
Greenbrier beat Evans. Lakeside beat Greenbrier. Lakeside beat Evans. Evans beat Lakeside. Greenbrier beat Lakeside. Evans beat Greenbrier.
Dallas Tranum, of Evans High School, dives for a ball during a match against Greenbrier. Evans beat Greenbrier 2-0. A tournament Saturday will decide who goes to the playoffs.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
That's just in regular-season play.
Volleyball postseason begins Saturday in Columbia County as one of the most-heated regular-season races comes to a close.
"I can't remember a time it's been this close between three teams," Lakeside head coach Kevin Williams said.
Evans, Greenbrier, and Lakeside sit in a jumble atop the Region 2-AAAA standings.
Both Evans and Lakeside have finished the season with a 6-2 region record. Greenbrier, with a 5-2 record, will play their final region match Thursday at Baldwin.
The most recent drama in the run for the region title came last week when Evans swept Greenbrier 2-0 in the Knights final home game of the season.
On Saturday, a double-elimination tournament will determine which teams will move on to the state playoffs and which teams' season will end.
Saturday's play will whittle the field down to the top two teams in the area. The Area Tournament Finals will take place Oct. 20.
With a potential three-way tie in the region, coaches will have to resort to a series of tie-breakers to determine the region tournament seeding.
Among the three teams, Greenbrier has a 4-2 record against Lakeside and Evans. That head-to-head record will give Greenbrier the No. 1 seed in the event of a three-way tie with Lakeside and Evans.
Lakeside and Evans both have a 3-4 head-to-head record.
Greenbrier coach Debbie Born said the second tie breaker is head-to-head matches.
Lakeside has that advantage and would take the No. 2 seed, while Evans would get the No. 3 seed.
In the event of a two-way tie between Lakeside and Evans, Lakeside would get the No. 1 seed.
All Area 2-AAAA Tournament games will take place at Greenbrier on Saturday with the exception of the championship game. The tournament championship will be played Tuesday night at the home of the school with the highest seed.
HARLEM (18-10, 5-1) also will see volleyball postseason competition this weekend with the Region 3-AAA Tournament on Saturday. Seeding is still up for grabs for the tournament, which will be held at Cross Creek.
Harlem coach Michael Hopkins, however, said his Lady Bulldogs and Cross Creek are favored to advance to the state playoffs. Harlem and Cross Creek will battle in a final regular-season meeting at Cross Creek on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.