This past Saturday the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) released its brackets for this year’s volleyball state playoffs.

Regional play begins on Tuesday for classes 1A-3A.

Oak Hall School is the No. 5 seed in Class 2A-Region 1, but the Eagles (16-2) will host No. 4 seed Providence (Jacksonville) as the lower seed in Tuesday’s regional quarterfinals since they defeated P.K. Yonge to win the Class 2A-District 1 title last Thursday.

As the No. 1 seed in the 2A-District 2 tournament, the visiting Stallions (13-6) lost in four sets in the district title game to No. 2 seed Trinity Christian (Jacksonville), which made the playoffs as the No. 6 seed and will host No. 3 seed Foundation Academy (Winter Garden).

“Considering that last week it was still in doubt as to whether we would make the playoffs or not, we are absolutely elated to be able to continue playing and to host a very talented, higher-seeded Providence team on Tuesday night,” said Oak Hall coach Perry McDonald, who announced his retirement from coaching once the season ends. “Providence is a tall, physical squad led by an exceptionally athletic 6’0 outside hitter and a 6’2” middle blocker. I’m hoping our five seniors put forth their best defensive performance of the season and that our home court crowd rallies us to one last home win on Tuesday night.”

The first serve is at 7 p.m.

Santa Fe (Alachua) and Gainesville will be at home on Wednesday in the Class 4A and Class 5A regional quarterfinals, respectively, after winning district titles.

The Raiders (19-7), who swept Crystal River to win the 4A-5 district title, are the No. 3 seed in Region 2 and will host No. 6 seed Satellite at 7 p.m. The visiting Scorpions (13-12) were swept by Merritt Island in the 4A-District 7 title game.

GHS, which cruised past Leesburg in last Tuesday’s 5A-District 5 semifinals, swept Lecanto on Thursday to win the district title.

It was the fourth straight win for the Hurricanes (15-8), who are playing their best volleyball at the end of the season.

“The key is to have ‘buy-in’ from all the players,” said first-year GHS coach Jerica Carter-Mitchell, who was a part of four final fours and two state championships as a player for the ‘Canes. “I can see that they now ‘believe’ and expect to make it to the State Final Four. Now we have to prove it every day moving forward.”

As the top seed in Class 5A-Region 2, GHS will host No. 8 seed South Fork (Stuart) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the regional quarterfinals.

“I know that they have lost to our common opponent Jensen Beach on three occasions,” Carter-Mitchell said of the Bulldogs, who lost in four sets to Jensen Beach in the 5A-District 8 semifinals. “We beat Jensen Beach in the Nike Tournament of Champions.”

South Fork (12-12) is ranked No. 168 overall in the state while GHS is ranked No. 62 in the final FHSAA rankings. However, Carter-Mitchell said that doesn’t mean anything in the postseason.

“We expect them to play their best volleyball against us, so ranking doesn’t matter anymore,” she said. “In the playoffs, all of those stats are out the window. We’ve got to play our best every time we step on the court.”

As the No. 1 seed, GHS would get to host all the way through to the state semifinals, including this Saturday in the regional semifinals.

The Rural classification begins postseason play on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Branford, which lost to Baker in last year’s Class 1A state championship game, swept Union County (Lake Butler) to win the Rural District 6 championship. The Bucs (24-3) have won 22 straight since a 2-0 loss to Oak Hall on Aug. 24.

They are the top seed in Rural-Region 3 and will host No. 4 seed Aucilla Christian (Monticello) at 1 p.m. in Saturday’s regional semifinals, while No. 3 seed Union County will travel to No. 2 seed Lafayette (Mayo) in the other semifinal at 7 p.m.

The Tigers (16-9) defeated the Hornets (16-4) in five sets in the district semifinals.

Chiefland, which was the No. 4 seed in last week’s Rural-District 7 tournament, upset No. 2 seed Trenton to win the district title. The Indians (11-10), who earned a No. 4 seed this week in Region 4, also upset top seed Williston in the district semifinals.

They will carry a four-game win streak into Saturday’s Rural-Region 4 Semifinals (7 p.m.) at top-seed Moore Haven (15-2). Williston (5-11) is the No. 2 seed and will host No. 3 seed Trenton in the other semifinal at 2 p.m.

Also, this week is the start of the FHSAA swimming and diving district meets beginning with Classes 3A and 4A today through Saturday, followed by the 1A and 2A district meets next week (Monday-Saturday, Oct. 28 – Nov. 2).

The Classes 1A and 2A regional meets are Monday-Saturday, Nov. 4-9, followed by Classes 3A and 4A (Monday-Saturday, Oct. 28 – Nov. 2).

The Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training (FAST) center in Ocala will host the FHSAA swimming and diving state championships beginning on Friday, Nov. 8 (Class 3A), and Saturday, Nov. 9 (Class 4A). The 1A and 2A finals will be held on Friday, Nov. 15, and Saturday, Nov. 16, respectively.

The cross country district tournaments begin next week (Monday-Saturday, Oct. 28 – Nov. 2), followed by the regional meets Wednesday-Saturday, Nov. 6-9, and the state championships at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee on Saturday, Nov. 16.

The postseason for golf also begins next week with district tournaments running Monday-Wednesday (Oct. 28-30).

The regional tournaments are Monday-Wednesday, Nov. 4-6, followed by the state championships for Class 1A (Tuesday-Wednesday, Nov. 12-13), Class 2A, (Friday-Saturday, Nov. 15-16), and Class 3A (Tuesday-Wednesday, Nov. 19-20) at the Mission Resort + Club in Howey-in-the-Hills.

The high school football state playoffs were pushed back a week and will begin on Friday, Nov. 15.

2024 FHSAA Volleyball state playoffs

Area teams in bold

Tuesday, Oct. 22
Class 2A-Region 1 Quarterfinals
4 Providence (Jacksonville) at 5 Oak Hall School, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 23

Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals
8 South Fork (Stuart) at 1 Gainesville, 6 p.m.

Class 4A-Region 1 Quarterfinals
7 Suwannee (Live Oak) at 2 Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville), 7 p.m.

Class 4A-Region 2 Quarterfinals
6 Satellite at 3 Santa Fe (Alachua), 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 26
Rural-Region 3 Semifinals
4 Aucilla Christian (Monticello) at 1 Branford, 1 p.m.
3 Union County (Lake Butler) at 2 Lafayette (Mayo), 7 p.m.

Rural-Region 4 Semifinals
4 Chiefland at 1 Moore Haven, 7 p.m.
3 Trenton at 2 Williston, 2 p.m.

Class 1A-7A Regional Semifinals (TBD)