Area teams ready for district volleyball playoffs

The matchups are set and play begins in the District 4 volleyball playoffs on Saturday morning.

In Class AA the Athens Wildcats are the top seed at 13-3 and they start things off at 10 a.m. Saturday when they take on No. 4 seed Wellsboro (9-8) in a semifinal matchup. All district games are being played at Williamson High School.

"We actually play Wellsboro tomorrow (Thursday) night in a match," Athens coach Maryalice Sullivan said. "We will get a chance to see them and hopefully that helps our chances."

With the Wildcats having the bye in the league schedule on Tuesday, Sullivan knew it was important to schedule matchups this week.

"We tried to schedule some games this week so we wouldn't be off for the whole week," she said. "We played Saturday and we play again tomorrow night.

"We've been playing some Saturday morning matches and Saturday with the tournaments we go to, so we should be used to playing Saturday morning."

The other matchup in Class AA will feature No. 2 Shamokin at 12-4 taking on third-seeded Towanda at 11-4.

The two teams will play following the Athens game at 11:30 a.m.

In Class A the Mansfield Tigers are the top seed and they have a bye on Saturday.

"It's got it's pros and cons," Mansfield coach Eric Cummings said. "Obviously not having that one extra game that teams have to play, and being able to go up there and relax and watch is nice. But, you always wonder how your team is going to react taking a week off. We have to stay on point, stay motivated and keep working hard.

"The preseason was the last time we had four consecutive practices without a game played, so hopefully we keep pushing ourselves."

One positive for Mansfield is letting some of the players rest up and get healthy.

"Sure, we have a few girls that are under the weather, battling illness and injuries all year long," Cummings said. "Having that week will allow those girls to get healthy."

While watching the other teams play Saturday can help, Cummings has already learned a lot about the other teams in the tournament.

"Everybody that is in the tournament this year I have either already seen play or we have played against," he said. "I went and scouted all these teams earlier in the year. We already know what all these teams bring to the table.

"In our league the NTL East and West, we all battle each other all the time. It will be nice to watch and see what everyone is doing though. You look and see if you can catch that one thing that you might have missed before."

In the semifinals, Mansfield plays the winner of No. 4 Lourdes Regional (15-5) and No. 5 Wyalusing (9-6), who meet a 1 p.m. Saturday.

"The kids are in pretty good spirits," Wyalusing coach Jeff Overman said. "Before last night against Troy we were coming off a little bit of a slide where we lost two pretty tough games and we fell asleep against Canton.

"They are excited. The seniors especially are ready to roll. We are looking forward to ending the season on a high note. Lourdes, we have seen them before, and I think we match up pretty well."

While the Rams are seeded fifth, they know what they are capable of when they play well.

"We gave Canton one of their only two losses of the year, so on any given night you never know what is going to happen," Overman said. "We just have to go out there and do what we are going to do and just hope things go our way."

Canton is seeded second at 14-2 and they take on host Williamson, the No. 7 seed at 10-7 at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

"At this time of year anyone is capable of winning at any moment," Canton coach Sheila Wesneski said. "You can't have any letdowns."

For Wesneski playing on Saturday can have some advantages over getting the bye if they had been seeded first.

"There's pros and cons, being off and not having a game until Tuesday, that's off an entire week until the game and that can be really tough," she said. "I find it's more difficult to play on days you don't usually play on though. Saturday is going to be a tough matchup to get ready for."

In the postseason Wesneski knows that teams can't have any letdowns.

"No one is going to go and be willing to give up, so you are going to have to bring your top game because if you lose you are out," she said. "You have to expect every team to play at their top level. Now it comes not only to your skill level, but heart because no one wants to lose."

The other matchup Saturday will feature No. 3 Elkland (14-4) taking on No. 6 North Penn at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The Class A semifinals are Tuesday with Mansfield playing Wyalusing or Lourdes at 6 p.m., followed by the winner of Canton and Williamson taking on the North Penn/Elkland winner at 7:30 p.m.

The finals are Thursday with the Class A final at 6 p.m. and the Class AA final at 7:30 p.m.