The562’s coverage of high school volleyball in 2023 is brought to you by the MLP’s Bay Area Breakers.
Long Beach has a handful of boys’ volleyball teams in the 2024 CIF-SS playoffs, and they each learned their postseason draw on Saturday morning in four different divisions.
Here’s who the local teams will be playing and where, and CLICK HERE to see the complete brackets from all divisions.
DIVISION 2
The Moore League champs from Wilson will begin the playoffs at home, facing some familiar competition. They will be hosting the St. Francis Golden Knights on Thursday at 6 p.m.
That meeting will be an exact rematch of the CIF-SS Division 3 title game from 2021, and the schools also played at the end of the 2023 regular season. The Bruins won each of those previous meetings in four sets.
Wilson is 26-4 as champions of the Moore League, while St. Francis posted a 19-9 record this season, finishing third in the Mission League. The Division 2 bracket is a 16-team bracket, meaning it will only take four victories for the Bruins to claim another CIF title.
DIVISION 3
The second place team from the Moore League is Long Beach Poly, and the Jackrabbits will be traveling to play Warren High on Thursday.
The Bears are champions of the Gateway League, posting a 16-5 overall record this season including an active nine-match winning streak. Warren opened its season with a four-set win over Millikan back in February. Poly, meanwhile, went 20-12 on the season and will look to build on a CIF quarterfinal appearance from a year ago.
Millikan will also be on the road to San Juan Capistrano for Thursday’s playoff opener, visiting Orange Coast League champion St. Margaret’s.
The Tartans are 27-4 and winners of their last 11 matches. Millikan is 15-8 on the campaign, and they’ve also got some history against St. Margaret’s. The Tartans eliminated the Rams with a five-set victory in the 2022 CIF-SS Division 4 semifinals.
DIVISION 5
The Jordan Panthers are back in the playoffs for the second straight year, hoping to start out with another victory. The Moore League’s fourth place team will travel to Hawthorne on Tuesday for a wild card match, and would earn a date with top-seeded Godinez in Thursday’s first round.
Jordan posted a record of 7-11-1 this year, while Hawthorne went 11-11 to place third in the Ocean League.
DIVISION 7
Avalon will get a home game to start their postseason run next Saturday. The Lancers are 22-11 and second place in the Express League this season, and they will host La Mirada on Catalina Island.
The visiting Matadores had an 11-12 record this season, finishing third in the Mid-Cities League after losing six of their last eight matches.
