Bears, Hawks top two seeds in Class 5A

Event begins Tuesday with play-in matches

La Cueva on Sunday afternoon was given the No. 1 seed for this week’s Class 5A state volleyball tournament.

The Bears, defending state champion Centennial, Cleveland and Cibola have byes into Friday’s official first round at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

Eight other 5A schools will be involved in play-in matches on Tuesday. Those four matches have No. 9 Santa Fe at No. 8 Sandia, No. 12 Rio Rancho at No. 5 Los Lunas, No. 11 Volcano Vista at No. 6 Eldorado, and No. 10 Hobbs at No. 7 Las Cruces.

The Tuesday matches are single elimination. Once the final eight teams reach the Events Center on Friday, it’s double elimination for the first round and quarterfinals, then back to single elimination in the semifinals and championship match. The 5A final is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday.

In fact, there are going to be a flurry of matches all across Rio Rancho on Friday and Saturday, with both Rio Rancho High and Cleveland High also hosting later in the week.

All five classes will contest their state finals on Saturday at the Events Center, either at 4 p.m. or 6 p.m., with the final rounds in these complicated brackets coming Saturday.

Hope Christian is the top seed in 4A; the defending champ, Albuquerque Academy, is part of the play-in round on Tuesday as the Chargers, seeded ninth, visit No. 8 Portales. St. Pius, the 10 seed, and Moriarty, the 11, both are on the road Tuesday as well.

Goddard, Los Alamos and Gallup received 4A byes in addtion to the Huskies.

Robertson earned the No. 1 seed in 3A; Bosque School is the fourth seed. Sandia Prep, which won state in the shortened spring season at the Pit earlier this year, was seeded No. 7 and will play host to No. 10 Crownpoint on Tuesday in a play-in match. East Mountain was at No. 8 and is home Tuesday to Santa Fe Prep.

Menaul is the only metroarea school in the 2A playoff field, and the Panthers, seeded No. 12, are at No. 5 Capitan on Tuesday. Tularosa has the No. 1 seed in 2A.

Legacy Academy, located on the West Side, is the No. 7 seed in the Class 1A postseason field. The Silverbacks are home to Magdalena on Tuesday for a play-in match.

Melrose, which won state in the spring, is the top seed in 1A.

NOTES: The state’s current mask mandate is almost certain to be in place through the end of the tournament on Saturday night. … As it is an NMAA event, tickets can only be purchased online; there won’t be any walk-up tickets sold at any of the three venues in Rio Rancho being utilized.