This is the last week of the high school volleyball regular season.
District play begins next week for Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) schools.
Earlier on Tuesday, an email was sent out to all Athletic Directors and volleyball coaches around the state to inform them that due to the impending storm, tonight at midnight is the deadline that all volleyball games will count for district seedings.
The FHSAA will run volleyball rankings and release the district tournament brackets on Wednesday, Oct. 9, as opposed to this Friday. All games played through Oct. 8th will be calculated into the rankings.
The FHSAA has advised that all games be entered and updated in MaxPreps before 11:59 p.m. on Oct.8.
Teams may participate in regular season contests through Saturday, Oct. 12. However, those contests will only count towards the rankings that are released for regional play, which begins on Tuesday, Oct. 22 (1A-3A), Wednesday, Oct. 23 (4A-7A) and Saturday, Oct. 26 (Rural).
Despite school closings, athletics continue for some schools.
Levy County is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the Williston volleyball team will still play at Oak Hall today. The game, originally slated for a 6:15 p.m. first serve, has been moved up and will start between 5-5:15 p.m.
On Monday, FHSAA Executive Director Craig Damon posted a video message on the FHSAA website stating that “your safety and wellbeing are the upmost importance to us. Fall sports schedules will continue as planned and we are working to provide as much flexibility as possible in rescheduling competition…all decisions remain tentative and contingent upon post storm outcomes.”
Some schools, like Santa Fe (Alachua) and Gainesville, are done for the regular season for volleyball and will turn their attention to next week’s district tournament.
Marion County Public Schools closed down for Wednesday and Thursday due to Hurricane Milton. All after-school extracurricular activities on Tuesday were also canceled, which meant that Santa Fe’s regular-season finale at Forest (Ocala) was canceled.
The Raiders finished the regular season at 17-7 following last night’s 3-2 loss at home to The Rock (15-2). Santa Fe will host next week’s 4A-District 5 tournament.
Newberry High School moved up its game against Fort White, originally scheduled for Wednesday, and will now play tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Gainesville’s game against DME Academy (Daytona Beach) was also canceled by DME due to weather considerations.
That was supposed to be the Hurricanes’ Senior Night. Instead, GHS will have Senior Night at 6 p.m. this Monday, Oct. 14, along with a Purple vs. White scrimmage.
The ‘Canes, who finished the regular season with a record of 13-8, will be the No. 1 seed in 5A-District 5 and will host a district semifinal on Tuesday. The district championship game will be on Thursday, Oct. 17, at Vanguard (Ocala).
The 2024 FHSAA Volleyball State Championships will be held at Polk State College at the Winter Haven Health Center, Nov. 4-9.