By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Seven of the eight volleyball teams in the Western Foothills 3A qualifying for the state playoffs is a highlight of 14 schools from Greater Hickory area leagues reaching the postseason.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) — which on Thursday released pairings for Saturday’s first round – used for the first time an RPI ranking as a factor in determining the field and seeds.
Conference champions throughout the state got an automatic bid, as did teams that were second in a league. Beyond that, the RPI helped complete brackets, and it included a formula that considered opponents’ winning percentages.
The highlights:
— The only team from the Western Foothills 3A that did not earn a bid was last-place Statesville, which finished 2-20.
East Lincoln (13-7), Fred T. Foard (22-3), Hickory (13-9), North Lincoln (8-13), North Iredell (21-1), St. Stephens and West Iredell (6-12) all earned bids with North Iredell the West No. 1 seed.
Ashe County got a 3A spot from the Northwestern 3A-4A, where Hibriten (13-10) had a winning record but did not get in.
— Four teams in 2A got into the bracket – Bandys (18-6), Maiden (17-8) and West Lincoln (14-11) from the Catawba Valley 2A Athletic and Patton (16-5) from the Mountain Athletic 7 2A.
— Watauga (18-4) and Alexander Central (15-3) advanced from the Northwestern 3A-4A are finishing 1-2 in the conference standings.
2A
Maiden, unbeaten in the CVAC 2A regular season, earned a No. 9 seed as a league champion and will open the playoffs at home Saturday at 4 p.m. against No. 24 Providence Grove.
Bandys, the CVAC 2A tournament champion after beating Maiden on Wednesday night, gained a No. 17 seed and travels to No. 16 R-S Central.
West Lincoln, which shared third in the CVAC 2A regular season with Newton-Conover and was fourth-seeded for the conference tournament, is the No. 32 seed and opens as top-seeded East Surry.
Patton, seeded No. 18 out of the Mountain Athletic 7 2A, opens at No. 15 Hendersonville, the MA-7 champion.
3A
After they split in the regular season, North Iredell beat Fred T. Foard in the Western Foothills 3A tournament title match and ended up with the West 3A top seed.
As a second-place team, seeded after all league champs, Foard ended up as a No. 10 seed.
No. 32 West Charlotte visits North Iredell on Saturday while No. 23 Ledford visits Foard at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
East Lincoln is seeded No. 13, opening at home against No. 20 South Point, and North Lincoln is No. 27 and goes to No. 6 Enka.
Hickory is seeded No. 14 and has a first-round noon match Saturday against No. 19 North Buncombe while St. Stephens, seeded 28th, plays at No. 5 Central Davidson.
West Iredell is No. 30 and opens at No. 3 West Rowan.
Ashe County, seeded ninth as the best 3A finisher in the Northwestern 3A-4A, opens at home against No. 24 Franklin.
4A
Watauga won the Northwestern 3A-4A title, finishing ahead of Alexander Central, and is seeded No. 3 with No. 30 Porter Ridge headed to Boone for a first-round match.
Alexander Central, seeded No. 14, is at home against No. 19 Mallard Creek in the first round.
In all classifications, the next playing dates are: Second round, Tuesday; Third round, Thursday; Fourth round, Oct,. 30; State championships, Nov. 6.
COMPLETE STATEWIDE PAIRINGS: https://www.nchsaa.org/sites/default/files/2021-2022%20Volleyball%20Brackets_0.pdf
