Last Saturday, 19 teams in the Southern Six began their quest for a state volleyball championship.
Thirteen of those teams remain alive as South State semifinal action gets underway Thursday night. The survivors will advance to Monday’s South State finals with the state championships set for Oct. 17-18 at Mississippi College in Clinton.
In 7A, the top seeds all took advantage of their home-court edge to advance as Gulfport and Ocean Springs both picked up sweeps. The Lady Admirals head to Brandon to take on the Lady Bulldogs, who swept D’Iberville. The Lady Greyhounds are set to play Northwest Rankin after the Lady Cougars defeated Harrison Central in four sets.
In North Mississippi, Lewisburg battles Hernando while Germantown hosts DeSoto Central.
In 6A, Region 4 has sent three teams to the semifinal round for the second year in a row. Hancock swept Terry and the Lady Hawks will host region opponent West Harrison on Thursday.
The Lady Hurricanes went on the road and swept Hattiesburg to advance.
Hancock won both matches against West Harrison in the regular season.
George County advanced with a sweep of Pearl River Central and will travel to West Jones, which swept Long Beach to advance.
Lake Cormorant hosts Warren Central while Neshoba Central hosts Center Hill in the North.
Region 4 also saw three of its four teams advance in 5A as region winner Vancleave swept Natchez and will face its Jackson County rival, Gautier, on Thursday. The Lady Gators went on the road and swept Florence to advance.
Vancleave swept Gautier in the regular-season matches.
East Central swept Brookhaven in Hurley on Tuesday night and now travels to Ellisville to play South Jones. The Lady Braves swept Wayne County to advance.
Lafayette hosts New Hope while Pontotoc meets Corinth in the North.
In 4A, Poplarville and Pass Christian have survived the first two rounds to advance to Thursday.
Poplarville has yet to drop a set as the Lady Hornets have swept Forest and Sumrall. Poplarville battles Northeast Jones as the Lady Tigers advanced with wins over Greene County and Columbia.
Pass Christian has also advanced with two sweeps, knocking off Morton and Lanier. The Lady Pirates now face a Purvis squad that swept Richland and eliminated Bay High in four sets. Bay opened the playoffs with a sweep of Quitman.
Newton County battles Tishomingo while Caledonia meets New Albany in the North.
Defending 3A state champion OLA swept into the third round as the Crescents knocked off Southeast Lauderdale and Jefferson Davis County. OLA faces Enterprise Clarke on Thursday.
St. Patrick opened the playoffs on the road with a tough five-set victory against Choctaw County. The Lady Irish followed it up with a sweep of Seminary and now will play region opponent West Marion. The two teams split their regular-season meetings.
East Webster battles Belmont while Booneville faces Kossuth in the North.
In 1A, Resurrection has only dropped one set in its victories over Shaw and Noxapater. The Lady Eagles battle region opponent East Marion on Thursday. Resurrection won both matches in the regular season.
Stringer battles Ethel in the other South State matchup.
Izzi Barnes, Myah Favre among Miss Volleyball winners
This week, the Mississippi High School Activities Association, in conjunction with C Spire, announced the Miss Volleyball winners in each of the state’s seven classifications.
Gulfport senior Izzi Barnes was named 7A Miss Volleyball. Barnes heads into Thursday night’s match with 399 kills, 54 aces and 157 blocks, according to Max Preps.
OLA’s Myah Favre was named 3A Miss Volleyball. Favre has racked up 494 kills, 165 digs and 57 blocks for the Crescents.
All seven Miss Volleyball winners will be recognized during the state championships next week.
