The Aptos and Mt. Madonna girls volleyball teams will have a weekend to prepare for the upcoming Central Coast Section playoffs.
Monte Vista Christian will not.
The Mustangs received the No. 11 seed in the CCS Division IV playoffs, and will hit the road to play at No. 6 Sacred Heart Prep on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Atherton.
Aptos and Mt. Madonna, meanwhile, earned the No. 2 seed in D-III and D-V, respectively, and won’t play until Tuesday’s quarterfinal round.
M.V.C. earned a berth to CCS as an at-large team after placing fifth in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan division with a 5-9 record.
Coach Britta Blaser’s Mustangs finished the regular season with a 14-17 overall record, and are ranked 546th in the state by MaxPreps. They were one of two teams that qualified for the CCS D-IV playoffs despite having a losing record, S.H.P. (12-17) being the other.
The Gators finished tied for third in the West Bay Athletic League’s Foothill division with a 5-5 standing, and are ranked 239th in the state.
M.V.C. and S.H.P. are very familiar with one another. The two have played in the preseason in each of the last two seasons, and they also met in the CCS D-IV championship game in 2016.
The Mustangs beat the Gators for their first section title since 1997 two years ago, but have lost the last two meetings in the preseason.
Aptos could also meet a familiar opponent on Tuesday if No. 7 Prospect pulls rank against No. 10 Monterey in Saturday’s first round.
Coach Lake Merchen’s Mariners swept the Panthers in a mid-September tournament match at the Chris Chandler Invitational.
Aptos finished the regular season on a hot streak, winning nine of its last 10 to notch a 23-8 overall record.
But the Mariners had their five-year reign over the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League come to an end this season, as rival Soquel completed a 12-0 run to the title.
The Knights are the No. 1 seed in the CCS D-III bracket, meaning the two could meet for a third time this season in the division’s final on Nov. 3.
If the two coastal powers do advance to the championship game, it would be a rematch of last year’s final in which Soquel emerged victorious.
Mt. Madonna (13-10) will look to recapture the magic of last year’s postseason run when it hosts the winner of No. 7 University Prep and No. 10 Nueva on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Last fall, coach Erin Mitchell’s Hawks played deep into November by advancing to a CCS and California Interscholastic Federation Northern California final.
Senior Mara Peruzzi, juniors AnMei Dasbach-Prisk and Paola Jacobs and sophomore Savannah Cambell all return from last year’s group.
