LAKE COUNTY >> Lake County is sending four high school teams to the North Coast Section volleyball playoffs beginning on Wednesday throughout Northern California.
All four teams — Clear Lake, Kelseyville, Middletown and Upper Lake — advanced as at-large selections in their respective divisions. Kelseyville (21-8) and Middletown (12-16) compete in Division IV while Clear Lake (17-14) and Upper Lake (16-8) compete in Division V.
Of the four, Clear Lake and Kelseyville each pulled down No. 10 seeds in the 16-team Division IV and V fields. Middletown is No. 13 and Upper Lake is No. 15.
All four teams also open on the road Wednesday at 7 p.m. in first-round matches. In Division IV, Kelseyville visits No. 7 seed Lick Wilmerding (18-12) at Lick Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, and Middletown travels to No. 4 seed St. Patrick/St. Vincent (22-16) in Vallejo. In Division V, Clear Lake plays at No. 7 seed Convent of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco, and Upper Lake hits the road against No. 2 seed Head-Royce (28-4) of Oakland.
Winners advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday. The semifinals are Nov. 19 and the sectional championship matches are Nov. 22.
Top seeds are Marin Catholic (21-9) in Division IV and Branson School of Ross (31-3) in Division V.
Kelseyville, Middletown and Clear Lake finished second, third and fourth, respectively, in the North Central League I standings this season. Upper Lake, a member of the NCL II, was the only school to beat champion St. Vincent in league play. St. Vincent (19-9) is the No. 8 seed in the Division V playoffs while NCL I champion St. Helena (25-4) is the No. 4 seed in Division IV.
