Area teams gear up for district volleyball tourneys

Play time is over. It’s time to get serious.

District volleyball tournaments begin across the state early next week as teams gear up for a run to regionals. Every Bay County program will go on the road in their quest to advance.

Mosley ended the regular season tied with Niceville atop District 2-6A at 7-1 in league play, but coming up on the losing end of a coin flip relegated Mosley to the second seed at districts. The Dolphins will travel to tournament host Crestview to play Choctawhatchee at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Mosley would advance to the district title game, scheduled for Thursday, with a victory.

“Personally I like the two seed,” Mosley coach Steve Canfield said. “Crestview, Fort Walton Beach and Choctaw all kind of finished about the same, and there’s not much difference between them. But Crestview is the home team. We’ll let Niceville play the home team.”

Arnold, Bay and Rutherford are traveling to Gulf Breeze for the District 1-5A tournament. Gulf Breeze secured the top seed at the tournament, and the three county schools face an uphill challenge trying to knock off the host team. Arnold plays Bay at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday in a contest of the district’s respective second and third seeds.

“I feel like since our midpoint in the season that we started to believe in ourselves a lot more,” Arnold coach Karisa Wesley said. “We’re really young, and we had a few confidence problems early in the season. They’ve really started to believe in themselves and their abilities.”

Wesley said even though Arnold has defeated Bay twice this season, she witnessed the Tornadoes’ improvement as the season progressed and isn’t taking them lightly.

“Mike Izumi is their coach, and they’re a lot stronger this year,” she said. “We definitely have to stay on our toes in the first match. They’ve also improved a lot. They improved after the first time we played them.”

Bozeman coach Jennifer Shelton said the Bucks are the third seed in the District 2-1A tournament scheduled to begin Monday in Chipley. Bozeman plays Holmes County in the first round at 6 p.m., and Shelton said her team defeated the Blue Devils twice this season.

“The girls are very excited, and they’ve been practicing all week,” Shelton said. “I offered to give them a day off for exams, and they didn’t want it. We’re working on the things we need to work on.”

Marianna will host Walton in the first round of the three-team District 1-4A tournament on Tuesday. Pensacola Catholic romped to the district’s regular-season title and will play the winner on Thursday in the district championship.

The District 3-1A tournament features seven area teams, and Sneads is the clear favorite after winning all 12 of its district matches during the season. Altha, Cottondale, Graceville, Vernon, Wewahitchka and Bethlehem also are vying for a berth to regionals in the tournament that begins Monday.

Liberty County will host the District 4-1A tournament beginning Tuesday. The tournament should be a three-team race between Blountstown, Port St. Joe and the host Bulldogs.