The volleyball playoffs are finally here.
The Florida High School Athletic Association released the brackets for all classes on Saturday following the conclusion of all the state’s district tournaments, and three area teams made the postseason. They include Branford, which is riding a 22-match win streak; Lafayette, which is limping into the regionals amidst a 3-match losing streak; and Suwannee, which won its first district title since 2016 to clinch its first playoff berth since 2018.
Here's who they’ll face off against:
REGION 3-R
Branford (24-3) clinched not only the No. 1 seed in Region 3-R but also the entire Class Rural field following a sweep over Union County in the District 6-R championship on Thursday. That win pushed the Buccaneers’ final rating up to 20.261 — way ahead of No. 2 seed Lafayette’s 14.190 — to set up a matchup with No. 4 seed Aucilla Christian, which won the District 5 title and finished with a final rating of 9.511, in the regional semifinals on Oct. 26 at 1 p.m.
Despite dropping its final three matches of the season, including to Union County in the District semis, Lafayette is still ranked second overall in Class Rural. The Hornets’ reward is a rematch with Union County, which will visit Mayo on Oct. 26 for a 7 p.m. tilt after finishing with a final rating of 10.173.
REGION 1-4A
Despite winning the District 2-4A crown, Suwannee (16-70) will be on the road for Wednesday’s Region 1-4A quarterfinal, which is set for 7 p.m. The Bulldogs drew the No. 7 seed in the Region 1-4A field after finishing with a rating of 7.572 and will have to travel to No. 2 seed Bishop Kenny (20-6), which won the District 4 title and finished with a 25.610 rating.
The winner of that contest will face the winner of No. 3 seed Pensacola (14-7, 11.800) and No. 6 seed Fort Walton Beach (10-14, 8.999).
South Walton (20-5) just edged Bishop Kenny for the No. 1 seed in the region with a 25.659 rating following a District 1 title and will host No. 8 seed Baker County (11-7, 6.842). The winner of that match gets the winner of No. 4 seed West Florida (13-12, 9.658) and No. 5 seed Yulee (11-12, 9.334), which Yulee will host after claiming the District 3 crown.
COLUMBIA FINISHES A SPOT OUT
Columbia’s playoff hopes were in trouble following a loss to Leon in the District 2-5A semifinals on Tuesday. Due to the strength of Region 1-5A, the Tigers likely need to win the district title to make the playoffs and that turned out to be true with the bracket release Saturday.
Despite a final rating of 15.169, Columbia (14-9) finished in ninth in Region 1-5A while Choctwhatchee (17-10) nabbed the final playoff spot at 19.739. It was one of the toughest region’s in the state to make the playoffs, with the top seven seeds ranked in the top 10 of Class 5A and all finishing with a rating over 20 with top-seeded Chiles’ final rating topping out at 33.516.