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Branford libero Halleigh Ray Harris returns a shot against Taylor County during the District 5-1A semifinals on Oct. 19. (PAUL BUCHANAN/Special to the Reporter)
Last week’s District 5-1A title guaranteed Branford a playoff spot.
On Sunday, the Buccaneers found out who they’ll face in the Region 3-1A semifinals.
Branford (12-6) received the No. 2 seed in the region and will host No. 3 seed Bell (13-12) in the teams’ playoff opener on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs beat the Bucs in four sets in their lone meeting this season on Sept. 14.
District 6-1A champion Dixie County (14-9) is the top seed and will face fourth-seeded Lafayette (17-8), which lost to Branford in the district championship. Bell and Lafayette received at-large bids based on the FHSAA rankings, which are used with the help of MaxPreps.
Dixie County has the highest rating in the region at 4.055 while Bell actually has the second at 3.776, but Bell is forced to travel to Branford (3.235 rating) after losing to Dixie County in the District 6-1A championship. Lafayette’s rating of 2.973 was comfortably ahead of Chiefland (-1.729) for the final playoff spot.
District runner-ups no longer receive automatic playoff berths, with those spots now awarded to the highest-ranked teams that did not win district tournament titles.
The FHSAA returned to this playoff system, which was first introduced in 2019, this season after the coronavirus forced the state to revert back to the old format in 2020 due to unforeseen cancellations throughout the regular season.