Tigers face South Rowan; Blue Devils will battle Hendersonville
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
The state high school volleyball playoffs begin on Saturday with 16 area schools in the mix and four opening-round matches are rematches from conference play.
Draughn (1A) and Patton (2A earned bids as did 2As Maiden, Bandys and East Burke from the Catawba Valley 2A Athletic.
The Western Foothills 3A advanced North Iredell, East Lincoln, St. Stephens, Hickory and West Iredell and 4As Alexander Central and Watauga got in from the Northwestern 3A-4A while Ashe County and Hibriten earned 3A bids from that league.
Additionally, Lincoln Charter gained a 2A bid.
Bandys and Maiden shared the CVAC 2A regular-season title (Maiden won the league tournament), North Iredell won the title in the Western Foothills 3A, and Watauga won the Northwestern 3A-4A crown.
The first-round rematches are Hibriten at Ashe County, St. Stephens at East Lincoln and Hickory at West Iredell in 3A, plus Alexander Central at Watauga in 4A.
Here are first-round matches locally, with second round matches due to be completed by Tuesday:
1A
No. 24 Swain County at No. 9 Draughn
2A
No. 17 W. Stokes at No. 16 Patton
No. 19 Community School of Davidson at No. 14 Lincoln Charter
No. 20 Bandys at No. 13 Randleman
No. 26 Hendersonville at No. 7 Maiden
No. 30 E. Burke at No. 3 Brevard
3A
No. 18 Hickory at No. 15 W. Iredell
No. 19 St. Stephens at No. 14 E. Lincoln
No. 23 S. Rowan at No. 10 Fred T. Foard
No. 27 N. Lincoln at No. 6 Rockingham County
No. 28 Hibriten at No. 5 Ashe County
No. 32 W. Charlotte at No. 1 N. Iredell
4A
No. 31 Alexander Central at No. 2 Watauga
COMPLETE STATEWIDE PAIRINGS: https://www.nchsaa.org/sites/default/files/2022%20NCHSAA%20Volleyball%20Playoff%20Final%20Brackets.pdf
