Only a little scrambling left for volleyball postseason spots

The Class 4A volleyball playoff pairings won’t be finalized until after Thursday night’s matches.

But after Wednesday’s play in the two Sunrise Region leagues, we’ll know who’s in and who’s out of the postseason.

Playoff teams have been decided in the Sunset Region, though there’s still a little shuffling that can be done in the Southwest League.

On the right side of town, two berths — one in each league — will be determined Wednesday.

Here’s a breakdown of the playoff picture in each league.

Who’s in: Palo Verde, Centennial, Faith Lutheran, Shadow Ridge
Who’s out: Arbor View, Cimarron-Memorial, Legacy, Cheyenne, Mojave

Palo Verde (15-1) survived a three-team battle to claim the No. 1 seed in a top-heavy league.

Centennial (13-2) is the No. 2 seed, followed by Faith Lutheran (13-3). Centennial swept the Crusaders and would win a tiebreaker.

Shadow Ridge (9-6) has locked up the No. 4 seed.

Who’s in: Bishop Gorman, Sierra Vista, Pahrump Valley, Bonanza
Who’s out: Durango, Desert Oasis, Western, Clark, Spring Valley

The biggest news in this league isn’t necessarily who’s in, but who’s out. Durango won’t get the chance to defend its Sunset Region title.

Gorman (15-0) has left no doubt which is the best team so far and has earned the No. 1 seed.

Sierra Vista (13-2) has locked up the No. 2 seed.

The battle remains for the No. 3 seed with Bonanza and Pahrump both sitting at 10-5 after the Trojans’ win over the Bengals on Tuesday.

Bonanza gets the No. 3 seed if it beats Pahrump, otherwise the Trojans will be the No. 3 seed and the Bengals the No. 4.

The teams split head-to-head meetings, and the second tiebreaker under Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association rules is wins by beaten opponents. For Bonanza to get to 11-5, it will have to beat Sierra Vista, giving Bonanza the nod if the teams tie there.

If they tie at 10-6, advantage Pahrump on beaten opponents. The Trojans swept fifth-place Durango, which Bonanza beat only once.

Who’s in: Las Vegas, Valley, Rancho
Who can still get in: Chaparral, Eldorado
Who’s out: Canyon Springs, Desert Pines, Sunrise Mountain

After a one-year hiatus, Las Vegas (13-0) is back to being the Northeast’s top seed in the Sunrise playoffs. The Wildcats had to vacate the top seed last year when they forfeited matches because of an ineligible player.

 

Valley (11-2), for the first time since 2001, is the No. 2 seed and has a chance to finish with its best league record in history.

Rancho (8-5) has locked up the No. 3 seed, even though Chaparral and/or Eldorado could catch the Rams.

Rancho swept Chaparral to win that tiebreaker. Rancho and Eldorado split, but the Rams get the nod on the second tiebreaker, wins by beaten opponents.

Chaparral (7-6) and Eldorado (7-6) enter Wednesday’s matches tied for the final spot, and the Sundevils appear to have no control over the situation.

Chaparral visits Valley and would wrap up the No. 4 spot with a win there. If the Cowboys lose, they’re out no matter what Eldorado does.

Here’s why: Eldorado currently has the edge on beaten opponents points and would keep it if the teams tie at 7-7.

But if they tie at 8-6, Chaparral beating Valley would give the Cowboys enough points to pass Eldorado, even if the Sundevils beat Desert Pines.

It’s confusing.

Who’s in: Silverado, Green Valley, Coronado
Who can still get in: Basic, Foothill
Who’s out: Del Sol, Liberty, Tech

Silverado and Green Valley are two of the top teams in town, and they’ve played like it.

The Skyhawks (13-0) won the teams’ first league meeting and that might be enough to get the No. 1 seed.

Green Valley (12-1) visits Silverado on Wednesday and must win by either a 3-0 score or by 3-1 and make up a 24-point difference in total points.

Silverado won the first meeting, 3-1, outscoring the Gators, 98-74.

The NIAA tiebreaker procedure for two-team ties is — a) head-to-head; b) beaten opponents; c) games won in head-to-head competition; d) points won in head-to-head competition; e) winner of the second match.

The Gators probably need to sweep to avoid being the No. 2 seed. If Silverado wins or even forces a fifth game, it’ll be the No. 1 seed.
Coronado (9-4) is the No. 3 seed.

Basic (6-7) has the inside track on the No. 4 seed, but must either beat Coronado or have Foothill (5-8) lose to Del Sol to keep it.

If Basic and Foothill both finish 6-8, the tiebreaker goes to Foothill. The teams split head-to-head meetings and will have beaten the same teams. Foothill won four games to Basic’s three in head-to-head matchups and would get the nod.