HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL

The road to a state championship will take a different path for Gray Collegiate this year.

After wrapping up another Region 3-2A title to improve to 35-1 all-time in region play, the Lady War Eagles earned homecourt advantage through the 1st 3 rounds of the Class 2A playoffs. This time, however, their quest to the Nov. 9 title match at River Bluff High School will take them through the Upper State.

“It’s a little bit more of a challenge this year than it was last year because we’re in the Upper State this year,” head coach Catherine Wrighter said. “I have a different group of kids than I had last year. I had some kids that didn’t play volleyball last year, but came back to play this year. I have a really talented outside freshman hitter (Za’Niya Boyles) who’s been performing really well for us, too. So we’re in a good position for playoffs to begin.”

Gray Collegiate opened Wednesday against Greer Middle College and a potential 3rd round match-up with defending 8-time state champion St. Joseph’s looms. Wrighter is counting on having tested her team against others in higher classifications to prepare them.

“We’ve played in some challenging tournaments,” she said. “We played in some challenging tournaments last year. We’ve really focused on playing as many (Class) 4A and 5A teams as we possibly can. We don’t get those (Upper State) schools very often unless we see film or to see who they played in other tournaments. So we don’t see a chance to see them for their region play. But I do know Region 1-2A is a very strong region with St. Joseph’s and Brashier (Middle College Charter) and Greer.”

Batesburg-Leesville opened in Class 2A at Andrew Jackson.

In Class 5A, Lexington won the top seed out of Region 5-5A and opened at home against Dutch Fork, while the Lady Gators played host to West Ashley.

White Knoll clinched 3rd place out of the region to earn its 1st playoff berth since 2015. It traveled to top seed Ashley Ridge.

In Class 4A, Airport opened at Myrtle Beach. In Class 3A, top seed Gilbert opened play versus Lake Marion, while Pelion travelled to Battery Creek.