Four County Teams Get Top Seedings

Four Orange County teams received top seedings in their divisions for the Southern Section girls’ volleyball playoffs when the pairings were announced Sunday.

The playoffs begin tonight with wild-card matches, four involving Orange County teams. First-round matches begin Tuesday.

Newport Harbor is top-seeded in Division I-AA, Mater Dei in Division I-A, Santa Margarita in Division II-AA and St. Margaret’s in Division V-AA.

Newport Harbor, which is trying to become the first team to win three consecutive top-division section championships, hosts a tough first-round match Tuesday against the Dana Hills-Los Alamitos winner.

Dana Hills had to defeat El Toro in a South Coast League third-place playoff Friday to earn an automatic qualifying playoff bid. Los Alamitos finished third in the Sunset League behind Esperanza, which is seeded fourth in Division I-AA, and Huntington Beach, which is seeded fourth in Division I-A.

In Division II-AA, Empire League co-champion Cypress is seeded No. 4, and in Division II-A, Freeway League champion La Habra is seeded fourth.

In Division III-AA, Pacific Coast League champion Corona del Mar is seeded third and could meet Rosary in the quarterfinals.

Rosary qualified for the playoffs despite finishing 0-6 in the tough Serra League, which also featured Mater Dei, Santa Margarita and Lakewood St. Joseph, which finished second in the Division II-A poll.

In Division IV-AA, Laguna Beach is seeded second and in Division IV-A, Calvary Chapel is also seeded second. Both teams have first-round byes and won’t play until Saturday.

In Division V-A, Express League champion Liberty Christian is seeded third.

Southern Section water polo and tennis playoff pairings will be announced today.

SIGNED AND SEALED

Wednesday marks the beginning of the early signing period for boys’ basketball and all other sports except football, girls’ volleyball, field hockey, soccer and water polo, which have to wait until February.

The early signing period concludes Nov. 17.

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Staff writer Paul McLeod contributed to this story.