The562’s coverage of Long Beach Volleyball in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Misty May-Treanor and the Dream in Gold Foundation.
The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
Lakewood girls’ volleyball opens the CIF State Open Division playoffs tomorrow evening in San Diego at Cathedral Catholic, the top seed in Southern California. The Lancers are the eight seed, meaning they’re the last team from Southern California to make it into the top division. It’s a big honor for the scrappy Lancers and for coach Mike Wadley.
It’s also an example of the odd math that comes into play in the Open Division and adjustable division era. For the first several years of CIF State competition, teams knew where they’d be and in what division before every season. Now those divisions can frequently change, and can change within the year with the Open Division.
Wadley has had a knack for getting the most out of his teams, and the Lancers were rewarded for their great season with a CIF-SS Division 1 and a CIF State Open Division placement. Had the Lancers been in Division 2 for CIF-SS or Division 1 for CIF State, they would have likely been favorites, having performed favorably against the top teams in those brackets.
Because they’re the eight-seed, they will be on the road for the entirety of the CIF State playoffs–if they can win tomorrow evening after a road trip they would play at the winner of Mater Dei and Torrey Pines on Saturday. Cathedral Catholic is 38-0 and has not lost a set yet this year.
Here’s the full bracket:
