High school volleyball playoffs: Dalton, Christian Heritage, Murray County begin postseason play this week

Oct. 16—The final region and area tournaments for Georgia High School Association volleyball wrapped up on Saturday, leaving a filled-out bracket for the state championship tournament in seven different classifications.

A trio of teams from either Whitfield or Murray counties earned spots in the 32-team tournaments, which begin this week.

Dominant Dalton earns home court

Dalton wrapped up its Region 7-5A tournament championship on Oct. 7, and the rested Lady Catamounts get to start a playoff journey at home because of the region title.

Dalton (36-7) hosts Cambridge (10-31) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament.

Dalton rolled through Region 7-5A without a loss during the regular season, then responded to a loss to Cartersville in the semifinals of the region tournament by rising out of the losers' bracket and defeating Cartersville twice to earn the championship.

Region 7-5A's top seed in Dalton will play the fourth-seeded team out of Region 6-5A, Cambridge.

Region 6-5A includes Chattahoochee, the team that has ended the last two Dalton seasons in the playoffs. Chattahoochee, which went 10-24 this year after the 2022 squad won 34 games and advanced to the state championship match after defeating Dalton, defeated Cambridge in the region tournament seeding game to take the third seed, handing Cambridge the fourth. Had the result been the opposite, it would have been Chattahoochee coming to Dalton for a third straight season.

Dalton instead plays Cambridge. A win would put Dalton into the Sweet 16 on Saturday, where the Lady Catamounts would host the winner of a first-round game between Loganville and Chapel Hill.

The first three rounds of the 5A playoffs are hosted by the higher-seeded team. The semifinals are held at Westminster School in Atlanta, and the state championship match is held on Nov. 4 at LakePoint Sports in Emerson.

Murray hits the road to play North Cobb Christian

After earning a home playoff game a season ago, Murray County ran into a strong top half of Area 7-2A this season and will enter the 2A state tournament as the third seed in the area despite a 26-11-1 record on the season.

Murray County plays at Kennesaw's North Cobb Christian School (22-18) Tuesday night at 6 p.m.

In Saturday's Area 7-2A tournament, Fannin County defeated Murray County to send the Lady Indians into the losers' bracket. Murray defeated North Murray 2-1 to earn a playoff spot and end the season of their rivals, then downed Haralson County 2-0 to earn at least the third seed. A 2-0 loss in the tournament semis to eventual champion Model set Murray's seed at third.

North Cobb Christian finished 5-1 in Area 6-2A, falling only to area champion Mount Paran Christian. Another loss to Mount Paran in the finals of the area tournament gave NCC the two-seed.

A win for Murray County would have the Lady Indians play Saturday against the winner of a first-round match between Jonesboro's Elite Scholars Academy and East Jackson. After the first three rounds of the 2A tournament are played at the higher-seeded team's home gym, the semifinals will be held in Jonesboro and the finals will be held at LakePoint Sports in Emerson.

Christian Heritage opens at Whitefield Academy

After wrapping up the Area 7-A tournament on Oct. 7, Christian Heritage learned its Class A playoff destination last week.

The third-seeded Lady Lions (20-17) travel to Mableton to play the second-seeded squad in Area 6-A, Whitefield Academy (30-18), on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Whitefield finished second in the area to Mount Pisgah Christian, compiling a 9-1 area record while Mount Pisgah romped through at 10-0.

Christian Heritage faced a similarly tough top of Area 7-A, entering the tournament as the fourth seed before losing to eventual champ Armuchee and then knocking off higher-seeded Darlington to earn the third seed.

A win for the Lady Lions would have them travel to top-seeded Oglethorpe County or host fourth-seeded Rabun County in the second round. The top-seeded team hosts each game in the first three rounds of the Class A playoffs. The semifinal round will be held in Marietta, and the state championship round will be held at LakePoint Sports in Emerson.

Seasons end for some in area/region tournaments

Northwest Whitfield, Southeast Whitfield, Coahulla Creek and North Murray all entered Saturday with a chance to earn their way to the state playoffs in their respective region and area tournaments, but the quartet of teams all saw their seasons come to an end.

Sixth-seeded Northwest drew top-seeded Heritage in the first round of the Area 7-4A tournament on Thursday, and a 2-0 loss put Northwest on the brink of elimination entering Saturday. Sonoraville defeated Northwest 2-0 to end the Lady Bruin season at 15-27.

Southeast fell 2-0 to Sonoraville Thursday and 2-1 on Saturday to Cedartown in the same Area 7-4A tournament to finish the year 13-27 and on the outside of the playoffs.

After dropping to Bremen 2-0 in the first round of the Region 6-3A tourney on Thursday, Creek stayed alive with a 2-0 win over Ridgeland on Saturday, but a 2-1 defeat to Ringgold with a playoff berth on the line instead ended the Lady Colt season with a record of 17-20.

After a loss to Haralson County in the opening round of the Area 7-2A tournament on Thursday, North Murray defeated Gordon Central Saturday to stay alive before being knocked out by Murray County. North Murray finished 6-16.

Dalton Academy also saw its third ever season end with the Area 7-A tournament, which concluded on Oct. 7. Dalton Academy finished the year 4-22.