Volleyball: Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Booker T. Washington and Jay qualify for state playoffs
The Florida High School Athletic Association released regional brackets for the 2023 state volleyball playoffs on Saturday morning.
And after all the calculations were made following this past week's district tournaments, all roads to state from the Region 1-6A bracket goes through Gulf Breeze.
After capturing their fifth consecutive district title, the Dolphins were one of four Pensacola-area teams to punch their ticket into the big dance. They are joined by Booker T. Washington, Jay and Navarre.
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Winners of its last 13 matches, Gulf Breeze earned the No. 1 seed in its region by posting a rating of 25.630, narrowly beating out second-seeded Chiles (25.258).
As a result, the Dolphins' quarterfinal opponent is a program in which they have plenty of history with in No. 8 Mosley (16.939). The two teams battled through a classic regional semifinal matchup last season, with Gulf Breeze rallying from an 0-2 deficit to claim a five-set victory. “My earliest thoughts are just that I’m excited for the girls to be given another opportunity to play the game they love,” Gulf Breeze head coach Jasmine King said. “Mosley is a team that we have lots of history with in the past two seasons and I know it will be a battle, but we are going to come to practice Monday and Tuesday and prepare and get better. We have big goals and at this point just need to focus on one game at a time.”
Gulf Breeze is 3-0 against Mosley since the start of the 2022 regular season. That includes a four-set victory this season on Sept. 27. Their next meeting is slated for a time to be announced Wednesday at Gulf Breeze High School.
The other area qualifiers will hit the road for their opening games after each earned at-large berths following respective district runner-up finishes.
Also in Region 1-6A, the No. 6 Raiders (17.772) will head south to take on No. 3 Gainesville in a Wednesday quarterfinal. The Hurricanes (23.172) won the District 4-6A championship.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats (11.461) are the sixth seed in Region 1-5A and have longest road trip of any area team. They play at No. 3 Jacksonville Beachside (20.034), winners of District 3-5A.
Lastly, the No. 3 Royals (6.596) have a Region 1-1A semifinal date on Friday at No. 2 Chipley (8.306), who won District 2-1A. The Tigers defeated Jay in four sets during a regional semifinal a season ago.
Meanwhile, Pensacola and West Florida just missed out on at-large bids in Region 1-4A. The Tigers (8.752) and Jaguars (8.686) were ranked seventh and eighth in the region, respectively, but were knocked out by virtue of Wakulla (8.160) winning the District 2-4A title and Yulee (6.616) doing the same in District 3-4A.
Patrick Bernadeau is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached at (772) 985-9692, on X at @PatBernadeau or via email at pbernadeau@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Volleyball: Gulf Breeze takes region's top seed, three other Pensacola teams qualify
