Beach Volleyball brackets coming this week

April 17, 2019 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Salpointe senior Alex Parkhurst goes up for a kill as her teammate Abby Russell and coach Heather Moore-Martin look on. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

The beach volleyball regular season ends on Thursday and the first round of the state playoffs is slated to begin on Tuesday, April 23. There are ten automatic qualifiers between the two divisions and nine of those have been spoken for.

Assuming all matches have been entered correctly, the automatic qualifiers in D-I are: Corona del Sol, Millennium, Perry, Xavier Prep and Casteel. The automatic berths from D-II are: Salpointe, Mesquite, Fountain Hills and Trivium Prep.

No. 4 Flagstaff (4-0 in section) is hosting No. 7 Coconino (4-0) on Thursday to decide the last available automatic playoff berth from D-II, Section IV. The losing team will no doubt earn an at-large berth but the match has significant consequences for the remaining teams.

The higher seed hosts the first two rounds of the playoffs and a team ranked in the top four has a better shot at hosting the second round than the remaining seeds. A win by Coconino might shift Flagstaff out of the top four in favor of No. 5 Salpointe.

The Lancers claimed the automatic berth from D-II, Section I and the squad defeated No. 27 Leading Edge Academy-Gilbert 5-0 on Wednesday to secure a first-round match at home next Tuesday.

Perry won the D-I team title last year over Millennium, ending the six-year championship streak from Xavier Prep. Fountain Hills won back-to-back D-II championships by defeating Valley Christian in the final match last year.

Pairs competition will start on May 6 for D-II and May 7 for D-I. Casteel will host the Pairs competition as well as the team semifinal and championship rounds for both divisions.

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The Leading Edge Academy - Gilbert Spartans finished the first year of competion in school history. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)