The N.C. High School Athletic Association has released the final brackets for the volleyball state playoffs.

The brackets were released early Sunday evening after the association posted preliminary brackets on Sunday afternoon. The preliminary brackets gave schools a chance to review for any errors.

The bracketing process began on Sunday afternoon as the NCHSAA released the final RPI rankings and conference finishes for each school.

All automatic qualifiers were determined first, which is based on the conference finish of each team. Once the automatic qualifiers are reviewed, the NCHSAA determines the at-large qualifiers based on RPI ranking.

When each of the brackets are full, the NCHSAA then seeds the brackets based on RPI rankings.

The volleyball state playoffs are being condensed this year after the NCHSAA extended the regular season to allow schools affected by Hurricane Helene a chance to make up missed contests.

Three rounds will be played this week. First round games are scheduled for Oct. 22, second round games for Oct. 24, and third round games for Oct. 26.

Next week, fourth round games will be played on Oct. 29, regionals will take place on Oct. 31, and state championships will be played on Nov. 2.

The first rive rounds are played at the higher seed. State championships will be played at Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of NC State University in Raleigh.

Source: highschoolot.com