Two local high school volleyball teams won their CIF Southern California Regional playoff division match on Thursday night to advance to today’s semifinal round.
Liberty, the No. 1 seed in the Division II bracket, swept visiting No. 9 Arroyo Grande 25-20, 25-19, 25-20. The win moved the Patriots (23-14) into a home match against No. 12 La Canada (25-18) at 5 p.m. The Spartans advanced to this matchup with the South Yosemite River League champions by defeating No. 13 Ventura in a five-set match on Thursday night.
The other local team to advance was Frontier, which is the second seed in the Division III playoffs. The Titans (21-16) swept No. 7 Chadwick of Palos Verdes Peninsula 25-2, 25-18, 25-23 at home on Thursday.
Frontier will host No. 3 seed Oceanside-Mission Vista (28-11) at 6 p.m. today.
Kern County, which started with five teams in these SoCal playoffs, did have one team’s season end on Thursday.
Centennial, the 10th seed in Division I, fell in a four-game match on the road against No. 2 Temecula Valley (21-4). The Golden Bears won 25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 25-23 over the Golden Hawks (31-12).
The loss ended Centennial’s attempt to reach the state championship final in back-to-back years and in different divisions. Last year, Centennial played in the Division II state title match.
Winners from Saturday’s matches will play in the regional finals on Tuesday.
A Liberty victory would guarantee the Patriots a fourth straight home match given their No. 1 seed status. The other D-II semifinal connected to Liberty’s side of the bracket is No. 3 Cypress and No. 7 Carlsbad.
A Frontier win, coupled with a loss by No. 1 seed San Diego-Academy of Our Lady Peace against No. 4 Santa Fe Christian today would give the Titans a fourth home match, too.
