Huntington, Sage earned top seeds

For the Huntington Beach and Sage Hill high school girls’ volleyball teams, they will have extra time to prepare for the CIF Southern Section playoffs next week.

The Oilers and Lightning earned a first-round bye in their respective divisions during the release of the section playoff pairings on Friday. Huntington Beach (28-3) is the No. 4 seed in Division 1, while Sage Hill (22-9) is No. 1 in Division 3, and both open the postseason on Thursday.

The rest of the seven local programs in the playoffs start on Tuesday, in the first round.

“We move forward without having to play, and that’s a good thing,” said Huntington Beach Coach Craig Pazanti, who boasts several standouts, including outside hitter Cami Sanchez and opposites Jillian Kim and Anna Carroll. “It’s going to be a while in between matches for us, which I don’t always think is great this time of the year.”

By the time Huntington Beach and Sage Hill play in the second round at home on Thursday at 7 p.m., it will be the first time they have competed since Oct. 25. The section rewarded the Oilers and Lightning for winning the Sunset League and Academy League, respectively, and for their success in their tough nonleague schedules.

Huntington Beach and Edison each went 9-1 in the Sunset League, splitting first place, but the Oilers received the league’s No. 1 entry into the playoffs. In the head-to-head tiebreaker, the Oilers won it because they swept the Chargers and the Chargers beat Huntington Beach in five sets.

Sage Hill went perfect in the Academy League for the second time in the program’s history. The last time it went undefeated was in 2014, when Sage Hill went on to claim its second straight section crown.

Sage Hill Coach Dan Thomassen and Pazanti have the chance to watch their next opponent play on Tuesday. Sage Hill meets the winner between Pasadena Poly and South Pasadena, while Huntington Beach gets either Aliso Niguel or Rancho Cucamonga.

“This is the first time we’ve actually ever had a bye in the first round,” said Thomassen, whose team features setter Jade Blevins and outside hitter Jamie Dailey. “Our girls are itching to play. We lost in the second round last year [and our streak of section finals appearances ended at four], and it was a home match, so it was a little bit of a punch to the gut, especially for the returners. They’re not going to take any opponent lightly.”

Edison is a contender in Division 1, while Corona del Mar has an uphill battle.

The Chargers (29-7) play host Trabuco Hills (16-13), the runner-up finisher from the South Coast League. Edison, which exited the Division 1AA playoffs in the second round last year, faces a program coming off a Division 1A championship.

The Sea Kings (18-10) have a home date with Long Beach Wilson (18-13), which placed third in the Moore League. If Pacific Coast League champion CdM gets pass the Bruins, it gets to travel to meet top-seeded Santa Margarita (31-4) in the second round on Thursday. Trinity League champion Santa Margarita will be fresh, as it has a first-round bye.

“I am a big believer in focusing on the task at hand, and for us that’s the Bruins,” CdM Coach Steve Astor said. “We’ve played them twice in the [playoffs the] last three years, so I know how great of a job their coach does. I expect them to be a tough match as they always play hard and make adjustments. At this point, I honestly do not care who is next because we cannot think about tomorrow. We need to play very well in order to get past Wilson and onto [whomever] we play in [the second round]. We need to have all of our focus on how we play, not who we play.”

The two locals in Division 2 square off with one another, as Laguna Beach (14-11) entertains Fountain Valley (12-11).

The Breakers won the Orange Coast League title for the 11th straight year, while the Barons, a fourth-place team out of the Sunset League, made the postseason as an at-large entry. The playoff appearance is Fountain Valley’s first since 2013.

Division 5 features two locals, Costa Mesa and Estancia.

The Mustangs (12-9), the runner-up finisher from the Orange Coast League, are at home against Crean Lutheran (15-6), which shared second place in the Academy League.

Estancia (16-7) is in the playoffs as an at-large team after taking fourth in the Orange Coast League. The Eagles travel to top-seeded Lakewood Mayfair (24-2).

Ocean View (10-10) plays at Garden Grove (16-7) in Division 7. The Seahawks finished third in the Golden West League and the Argonauts are the Garden Grove League champions.

Some Movement

For making the CIF Southern Section finals in recent seasons, the Edison and Corona del Mar boys’ basketball teams are moving up divisions.

The section released its new playoff groupings for boys’ basketball and boys’ soccer on Thursday.

In boys’ basketball, Edison is in the premier division. After Coach Rich Boyce led the Chargers to runner-up finishes in the Division 2AA finals last season and the Division 1A finals two seasons ago, they’re now in Division 1AA with the likes of powerhouse programs like Mater Dei and Chino Hills.

“It is where we belong based on the last two years,” Boyce said. “I would prefer they do the rankings after the season or near the end as some teams like [Chino Hills] Ayala, [which was] senior [heavy] last year, could struggle because they are all gone. Not fair that a good senior class could make it difficult for classes behind them. But it is the system we have and it is what we will deal with.”

Just as Boyce’s program is up for the challenge, so is Coach Ryan Schachter’s at CdM. His team goes from Division 3A to Division 1A.

The Sea Kings reached the Division 3A finals during the 2014-15 season, losing to Beverly Hills.

“I think we’re in a tough … division,” said Schachter, who has led the Sea Kings to two section finals appearances, the first during his debut season in 2006-07 they won the championship. “I’m really excited about the challenge of playing [in Division 1A]. They way I look at it [is] there [are] no more easy first-round matchups, and every round after the first will be a semifinal or championship caliber matchup. I don’t think [there] will be very much difference between teams one through 10.”

Below are the rest of the local boys’ basketball teams and their playoffs divisions are in parenthesis: Huntington Beach (1A), Newport Harbor (2AA), Fountain Valley (2A), Marina (2A), Ocean View (3AA), Laguna Beach (3AA), Costa Mesa (4AA), Estancia (4A), Sage Hill (4A), Los Amigos (5AA), Brethren Christian (5A) and Liberty Christian (6).

In boys’ soccer, three Sunset League teams — Edison, Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach — stayed in the Division 1 playoffs, while Marina drops to Division 2 and Newport Harbor goes to Division 3.

CdM is in Division 2 and Estancia is in Division 3.

Here are the other area teams and their playoff divisions are in parenthesis: Ocean View (4), Laguna Beach (5), Los Amigos (5), Costa Mesa (5), Sage Hill (6) and Brethren Christian (7).