Predicting Potential Class 5A Regional Finals

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Regional pairings will be coming out in the next couple of weeks and there are a lot of moving parts in regards to who could be a top seed, and securing a home match if they were to advance to the regional final.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Let's take a look at Class 5A first when it comes to who could be hosting a regional.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:table --> <figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td></td><td>IGHSAU Ranking</td><td>Bound Power Index</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Ankeny Centennial</strong></td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Pleasant Valley</strong></td><td>2</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Ankeny</strong></td><td>3</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Dowling</strong></td><td>4</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Waukee Northwest</strong></td><td>5</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Indianola</strong></td><td>6</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Cedar Falls</strong></td><td>7</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Iowa City High&nbsp;</strong></td><td>8</td><td><strong>8</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Iowa City Liberty&nbsp;</td><td>9</td><td>11</td></tr><tr><td>Waukee</td><td>10</td><td>9</td></tr><tr><td>CR Prairie</td><td>11</td><td>13</td></tr><tr><td>Valley</td><td>12</td><td>12</td></tr><tr><td>Bettendorf</td><td>13</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td>Linn-Mar</td><td>14</td><td>16</td></tr><tr><td>Sioux City East</td><td>x</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Ottumwa</td><td>x</td><td>15</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <!-- /wp:table --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong>The Top Seeds</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The top spot has been a merry go round with Ankeny, Ankeny Centennial, Dowling, and Pleasant Valley taking their turn.&nbsp; These teams are on track to be a regional host, but the question always is if they are to advance to the regional final, who travels to them? Waukee Northwest has plenty of youth, but have picked up some big wins so far this season that include Waukee, Valley, Liberty, Dowling, and Indianola.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong>Fighting For a Regional Host</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cedar Falls, Iowa City High, Iowa City Liberty, and Waukee are the “Bubble” teams where they are fighting to get a top seed in their region and to host a regional final. Cedar Falls has a big match against Iowa City High which will be a must win for both teams.&nbsp; Iowa City High could have full control of their destiny where they have some huge matches ahead.&nbsp; They can gain some quality wins with a tournament at Mount Vernon this weekend and conference matches coming up against Cedar Falls, Iowa City West, CR Prairie,and Iowa City Liberty.&nbsp; Iowa City Liberty can make a push with a win tonight over Linn-Mar and could secure a top eight spot if they were to defeat Dowling this upcoming weekend.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong>Potential Regional Finals&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ankeny Centennial vs. Ottumwa</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ankeny vs. Sioux City East</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pleasant Valley vs. Bettendorf&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dowling vs. Linn-Mar</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Waukee NW vs. Valley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Indianola vs. Waukee</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cedar Falls vs. Cedar Rapids Prairie</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Iowa City High vs. Iowa City Liberty (Yes the battle of Iowa City playing for a spot at the state tournament) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>To zero in on this scenario, I think the first team listed is most likely to be a regional final host of of right now.&nbsp; Last season, Pleasant Valley had a thrilling five set match against Dubuque Senior.&nbsp; Senior will be in the mix as well as Dubuque Hempstead.&nbsp; If seeding plays out they very well could be in a regional with PV or Cedar Falls.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Central Iowa is a gauntlet of really good teams.&nbsp; Indianola moving from Class 4A to Class 5A pours a little gas on the fire.&nbsp; Valley could be a bit of a wild card where they have played the spoiler years past.&nbsp; Indianola has a chance to gain some momentum over the next couple of weeks and have a senior led squad who has played in plenty of big matches.&nbsp; Will there be five teams from Central Iowa to make it to Coralville.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I think there will be an MVC battle for two spots in the state tournament.&nbsp; This could be shuffled in multiple ways.&nbsp; I can only imagine the crowds that would fill Xtream with an Iowa City school back in the state tournament. Liberty won the first Class 5A title at Xtream in 2022.&nbsp; And who knows, I'm sure Iowa City West or the Cedar Rapids school would love to crash this part as well.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->