The Pajaro Valley High Grizzlies and Aptos High Mariners are set to meet in the first round of the Central Coast Section playoffs. The Mt. Madonna Hawks will also be in action.
The No. 12-seeded Grizzlies will host the No. 5-seeded Mariners today in the CCS Division II playoffs at 7 p.m. Although they were the lower seed, Pajaro Valley was awarded home-court advantage because of their league champion status.
The Grizzlies (20-10) are fresh off winning the program’s first-ever league title, beating Monte Vista Christian on Thursday to clinch the Monterey Bay League title outright with an 11-1 record.
Aptos, meanwhile, came a few points short of winning a share of what would have been its third straight Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League championship on Friday night in a five-set loss to Pacific Collegiate School in the league tournament final.
The Mariners (19-5) have beaten the Grizzlies in their lone head-to-head matchup this season, sweeping them 25-17, 25-10 at the Battle of the Bay tournament on April 1.
Mt. Madonna (18-12), the third place finisher in the SCCAL, received the No. 7 seed in D-II and will host No. 10 Sacred Heart Cathedral today at 7 p.m.
PCS, the SCCAL champion, received the No. 1 seed in the D-II and will play the winner of No. 8 Sobrato High and No. 9 The Harker School on Thursday in the quarterfinals.
No. 4 Carmel High, No. 2 Branham High and No. 3 Serra High also received first-round byes.
No. 6 Saratoga High, the two-time defending CCS D-II champ, and No. 11 St. Ignatius round out today’s first round matchups.
