Volleyball, girls tennis playoff brackets unveiled
Oct. 20—Liberty's defense of its Central Section Division I volleyball championship will start Tuesday when the No. 3 Patriots host No. 6 Clovis North in the opening round of the playoffs.
Liberty, the South Yosemite River League champion, is the only Kern County team to reach the D-I playoffs, with SYRL runner-up Stockdale earning the top seed for the Division II playoffs.
The Mustangs will host No. 16 Templeton on Tuesday, with fellow SYRL teams No. 3 Centennial, No. 5 Frontier and No. 10 Garces also in action.
The Golden Hawks will host No. 14 Clovis East, with No. 12 Arroyo Grande traveling to face Frontier. The Rams play at No. 7 Fresno-Justin Garza.
South Yosemite Valley League champion Bakersfield Christian is the No. 4 seed in D-II and will host No. 13 San Luis Obispo-Mission Prep.
In Division III, SYVL runner-up Independence is the No. 7 seed and will play No. 10 Tulare-Mission Oak at home.
Shafter, Taft and Kennedy from the South Sequoia League will have home games in Division 1V. The No. 4 Wildcats play No. 13 Santa Maria-Righetti, the No. 5 Generals play No. 12 Lompoc-Cabrillo and No. 8 Kennedy plays No. 9 Fresno-Washington Union.
Kern County is well-represented in Division V, with six of the eight games featuring area teams at home. No. 1 California City hosts No. 16 East, No. 2 Chavez plays No. 15 Madera-Liberty, No. 4 Frazier Mountain plays No. 13 McFarland, No. 5 Kern Valley plays No. 12 Mendota, No. 6 Ridgeview hosts No. 11 Avenal and No. 7 West plays No. 10 Coalinga.
In the girls tennis team playoffs, South Yosemite River League champion Liberty and runner-up Garces are on the same side of the Division I bracket and seemingly on a collision course to meet in the semifinals on Halloween.
The Patriots defeated the Rams in both in two very tightly-contested SYRL matches this season, and a third meeting would be at Liberty. Both teams earned a first-round bye for Tuesday's opening round, with Liberty the No. 2 seed and Garces sitting at No. 3.
The Patriots will play the winner of No. 10 Clovis at No. 7 Stockdale, while the Rams will host the winner of No. 11 Fresno-Bullard and No. 6 Clovis West in Thursday's quarterfinals at 4 p.m.
In Division II, No. 8 Bakersfield High will host No. 9 Atascadero, with No. 10 Bakersfield Christian playing at No. 7 Centennial on the other side of the bracket.
Chavez, South and Highland will also have home matches in Tuesday's first round.
The Titans are No. 5 in Division IV and will host No. 12 Madera-Matilda Torres, with No. 6 South hosting No. 11 Desert.
In Division V, No. 12 Kern Valley will travel to play the No. 5 Scots.
