LAKE COUNTY — Clear Lake High School’s varsity volleyball team is the No. 2 seed in the 16-team North Coast Section Division 5 playoff bracket and hosts No. 15 seed Hoopa Valley in a first-round match Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Also advancing to the Division 5 playoffs are the Upper Lake Cougars (13-11), the No. 11 seed. They hit the road Tuesday to play No. 6 Salesian (18-11) of Richmond at 7 p.m.
Earning an at-large spot in the Division 4 playoffs are the Middletown Mustangs (15-17), who travel Wednesday to play San Rafael (16-11) in a first-round match.
Division 4 and Division 5 first-round winners advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round. The semifinals are Nov. 2 and the championship match is Nov. 5.
Fans of Clear Lake, Upper Lake and Middletown can get their tickets for the matches at https://gofan.co/app/school/CA23081
Division 5
Clear Lake (28-3) finished second in the North Central League I standings this season behind Roseland University Prep, which competes in the Division 4 playoffs. By virtue of their No. 2 seed, the Cardinals are guaranteed the homecourt advantage throughout the semifinals, provided they keep winning. Urban (15-8) of San Francisco came away with the No. 1 seed. Urban beat Clear Lake a year ago in the sectional quarterfinals at Lakeport.
Upper Lake placed third in the NCL II standings this season behind Sonoma Academy and Roseland Collegiate Prep.
The top four seeds in the Division 5 field are Urban, Clear Lake, No. 3 The Bay School (17-3) of San Francisco and No. 4 Berean Christian (18-8) of Walnut Creek. Sonoma Academy (22-7) is the No. 5 seed. Cloverdale (11-15), fifth in the NCL I standings this season, is the No. 9 seed.
Urban is the only team that has a first-round bye. It will host the No. 8 College Prep vs. No. 9 Cloverdale winner in the quarterfinals.
The Clear Lake-Hoopa winner draws the No. 7 Drew (9-9) vs. No. 10 International (11-8) winner in Saturday’s quarterfinal round at the home site of the highest surviving seed. The Upper Lake-Salesian winner draws The Bay School vs. No. 14 Summit Tamalpais winner. Other first-round pairings are Berean Christian vs. Credo, and Sonoma Academy vs. Quarry Lane.
Division 4
Middletown finished fourth in the NCL I standings this season behind Roseland University Prep, Clear Lake and Fort Bragg. If the Mustangs pull off the upset against San Rafael in first-round action, they’ll be on the road again Saturday to play the winner of No. 5 Justin-Siena vs. No. 12 Pinole Valley in the quarterfinals.
The top four seeds in the Division 4 field are No. 1 Marin Academy (22-12) of San Rafael, No. 2 Head-Royce (28-6) of Oakland, No. 3 Saint Mary’s (21-4) of Albany, and No. 4 San Rafael. NCL I champion Roseland University Prep is the No. 8 seed. Marin Academy, Head-Royce and Saint Mary’s have first-round byes.
Other first-round matches are Roseland Prep University vs. No. 9 St. Joseph Notre Dame, No. 7 St. Patrick/St. Vincent vs. No. 10 Arcata, and No. 6 Del Norte vs. No. 11 Healdsburg.
