5A Regional Hosts Pt.2

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Regional pairings have officially come out and we now know where every team in class 5A is headed. The way regionals in volleyball are decided is based mainly off rankings. Rankings are based on head coaches of each program voting. The top 8 teams get to host a regional tournament. Then seeds 9-16 are placed as such, 1-16, 2-15, 3-14...etc. From there OSSAA does their best to keep the pattern going all the way to 32 but they do try to account for geography to help make some logical switches. Once the 8 regional tournaments are set, they play a single elimination style amongst the four teams and whoever is the champ of each regional, they move onto the state tournament. Where those 8 coaches will rerank and they seed state based off that. Let's take a look at regions 5-8, the teams in them and players to watch.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Regional #</span></strong>5</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Host:</strong> El Reno</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Teams:</strong> #12 Duncan, Guthrie and Guymon. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>El Reno is having one of the best seasons in recent history. They had a rough opening week but quickly bounced back with a 5 set thriller against Tuttle and followed that up with going 6-0 at the sapulpa tournament to win the championship. That is where they saw the Duncan Deamons and won 2-0. Duncan is currently perfect in the month of Ocotber though. Guthire has shown signs of having a high ceiling, they are the one 3 seed that I would keep an eye on for making some waves. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players to Watch:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Regional #</span></strong>6</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Host:</strong> Bishop Kelley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Teams:</strong> #11 Newcastle, Pryor and Will Rogers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bishop Kelley is the definition of flying under the radar. They may only have 7 wins but they have played 12 teams in class 6A and 20 total teams ranked inside the top 20. They have plenty of talent to not only make it to state but also do damage once they get there. Newcastle has been on skid lately but with wins like El Reno X2, and Mac on their resume, they are not to be overlooked. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players to Watch:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Regional #</span></strong>7</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Host:</strong> Shawnee</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Teams:</strong> #10 Noble, East Central and McAlester.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Shawnee has played the most teams ranked inside the top 20 than any other top 10 team in class 5A. They are battle tested and have plenty of resume building wins. Noble has played Shawnee twice this season, both being pretty competeive matches. This one could get interesting. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players to Watch:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Molly Megehee and [player_tooltip player_id='980844' first='Suzy' last='Howle'] do a great job running the Wolves offense. Lily Parker and [player_tooltip player_id='1041398' first='JaNya' last='Bruner'] are also key cogs to the machine that Shawnee can be. [player_tooltip player_id='904300' first='Layne' last='Eutsler'] is huge for Noble and her calmness duirng big moments is something to admire. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Regional #</span></strong>8</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Host:</strong> Lawton Mac</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Teams:</strong> #9 Collinsville, Southeast and Del City. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>These two teams switched places in the final rankings and now Collinsville we have to make the 3+ hour trip down to Lawton. How much does the long drive affect this matchup? Mac has been on a tear and won 18 straight sets. Half of those were against ranked teams. Collinsville is in a simliar boat, they are 20-3 in the last 23 matches. Southeast is also sitting at a respectable 18-7 on the year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players to Watch:</strong> Cant start with anyone but [player_tooltip player_id='737518' first='Brianni' last='Kimbro'] for Mac. She is a wichita state commit and has the capability to take over a match and rack up kills in hurry. [player_tooltip player_id='757039' first='Kyanah' last='Taylor'] and [player_tooltip player_id='902104' first='Giana' last='Roig'] are both good options to help give the Highlanders a spark when needed and shoulder some of the offense. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->