Local volleyball teams contending for playoffs halfway through regular season

With the Labor Day weekend serving as the unofficial midway point for volleyball’s regular season, today we take a look at where teams in Catoosa and Walker Counties stand going into the second half of the schedule.

In Area 7-AAAA, Heritage — No. 2 in the most recent Class AAAA state rankings — sits atop the area standings at 3-0, having already defeated No. 3 Northwest Whitfield and No. 6 Ridgeland, along with Pickens. Northwest and Ridgeland are tied for second at 2-1 in area play. Cedartown and Pickens are both 1-2 and Southeast Whitfield is 0-3. Each team in the area will play every other team in the area twice in the regular season.

Heritage is set to take on Ridgeland at home on Sept. 15 and the Lady Generals will face Northwest again in their final area match of the regular season on Oct. 6.

Meanwhile, Ridgeland will get both of their shots at Northwest in a span of seven days. They will play Northwest in a neutral site match at Pickens on Sept. 22 before they host the Lady Bruins on Sept. 29.

The area tournament is set to begin on Oct. 15 with higher seeds hosting in the opening round. The rest of the tournament will be played on Oct. 17.

Perhaps the biggest match in Area 6-AAA will take place on Thursday of this week when No. 2-ranked LaFayette (5-0 in area play) travels to No. 5 Sonoraville (6-0) in a contest that could ultimately decide the top seed in the tournament.

LFO and Ringgold both sit at 4-2 in area play. The two Catoosa County rivals will face each other at Ringgold on Sept. 15.

Murray County and Adairsville are both 3-3 in area play, while Coahulla Creek, North Murray and Rockmart are all 0-5.

Each team will play the others only once in the regular season. The area tournament will begin on Oct. 15 and will conclude on Oct. 17.

No. 3-ranked Gordon Lee, along with No. 7 Dade County and unranked Fannin County, all sit atop the Area 7-AA/A standings in the Public School division at 1-0. Morris Innovative is 0-1 and Gordon Central is 0-2, while Chattooga has yet to play an area match.

Gordon Lee will host Fannin County on Sept. 15 and will travel to Dade County on Sept. 29 to help complete the round-robin area format.

The 7-AA/A tournament is slated for Oct. 3.

As for Oakwood Christian, they are now 2-0 in the GAPPS Region 1 standings with wins over Unity Christian and Lyndon Academy. They will host Lyndon again on Sept. 11 and will travel to Rome to face Unity on Sept. 21. The region tournament will be played Oct. 8-10.

The Lady Eagles are also currently 1-1 in the SCAA standings, having beaten Mt. View Christian, but having lost to Shenandoah Baptist.

OCA has conference matches coming up on Sept. 10 against Cleveland Christian and Candies Creek in Cleveland and at home against Rhea County Academy on Sept. 11 to finish off the first leg of the league slate. They will take on all five schools once more before the SCAA tournament on Oct. 17.