Division 1: Lakewood at Marymount, 6 p.m.
Lakewood drew the short straw in this year’s CIF-SS Division 1 playoff brackets, dropping from No. 9 in the rankings to essentially No. 14 in the final week, now traveling to face No. 3 Marymount, a loaded team that went 29-8 en route to a Mission League championship.
Marymount, which knocked Poly out of this bracket last year, is loaded with top-end talent.
The Lancers not only have to travel to try and upset the Sailors, but they’d have to travel again next week to face Santa Margarita should the Eagles and Lancers both advance, thanks to a lost coin flip.
The 23-11 Moore League runner-ups are staying positive, thanks in large part to senior leadership that coach Mike Wadley is confident in.
“We’ve got really strong seniors and I know with Moni (Vivao) and Julia (Crawford) having been on varsity all four years, they’ve seen the level of competition,” said Wadley.
Lakewood needs the win behind UCSB-committed Vivao and CSUF-committed Crawford, because their season will be over otherwise–Division 1 teams are not guaranteed a state berth. That means had Lakewood finished three spots lower in the rankings, they’d be the top seed in Division 2. Instead, they’re staring down potential elimination.
Marymount’s top weapons include setter Grace Frohling, a San Diego commit, Devon Newberry (UCLA), and Elia Rubin.
