State volleyball matchups set

Nine local GHSA teams will take the court Oct. 20 in the first round of the state volleyball tournament, with three of those squads winning region championships in the past few days.

McIntosh, Whitewater, Starr’s Mill and Fayette County finished 1-2-3-4 in the Region 3-AAAAA tournament and all are going to state, where McIntosh will defend its 2017 AAAAA title. East Coweta won Region 2-AAAAAAA and Northgate finished first in Region 5-AAAAAA.

The Region 3-AAAAA tournament began last Wednesday with Starr’s Mill defeating Jonesboro and Fayette County winning over Riverdale. McIntosh, which got a first-round bye, then won over Fayette County.

Whitewater defeated Griffin Friday but then lost to Starr’s Mill. McIntosh defeated Starr’s Mill Saturday morning and then Whitewater avenged its previous loss, setting up an afternoon final in which McIntosh won three straight games over Whitewater to take the region crown.

The four Fayette teams will square off Oct. 20 against teams from Region 2-AAAAA. McIntosh will host New Hampstead and Fayette County will play at Statesboro. Other matchups are Starr’s Mill against South Effingham and Whitewater against Ware County.

East Coweta will host North Paulding from Region 3-AAAAAAA. Northgate will host Dacula from Region 8-AAAAAA. Sandy Creek finished as the fourth seed from Region 5-AAAA and will to travel to St. Pius to face the top seed from Region 8-AAAA.

In the AA/A bracket, Trinity is the second seed and Landmark the third seed from Area 2. Their opponents were not posted on the GHSA website at press time.