State playoff preview for 1A, 4A, 5A and 6A

The Arizona high school girls volleyball postseason is officially underway after the AIA released the 1A, 4A, 5A and 6A conference state tournament brackets via its AZPreps 365 website on Saturday.

There are only two defending champions, Mogollon (15-1 overall, 12-0 region) and Goodyear Millennium (15-2 overall, 7-1 region), who are the top seeds in the respective 1A and 5A state playoffs.

The 2A and 3A conferences are still competing in their regional tournaments Saturday and the play-in rounds will occur Tuesday.

Here are the top eight seeds -- the automatic qualifiers -- of the 1A, 4A, 5A and 6A 16-team brackets. Also, check for the entire tournament brackets, dates and locations, top storylines, best players, favored teams and sleeper picks to win the 1A, and 4A through 6A playoffs below. defending champion and top-seeded Millennium’s 48-game win streak that dated back to the Tigers’ undefeated 2018 season. The bracket is set up to have Millennium possibly face Verrado in the quarterfinals. Sunrise Mountain (13-4) beat Sunnyslope (14-3) on Oct. 29, to move up in the fifth in 5A .

Best Players: Sunrise Mountain sr. setter Shauna Rath; Sunrise Mountain jr. opposite Adna Mehmedovic, Horizon fr. Kendal Murphy, Millennium jr. outside hitter Jordan Miller.

Favored teams to win the title: Millennium, Cactus Shadows, Horizon.

Sleeper picks to win the title: Verrado, Sunrise Mountain, Ironwood Ridge, Canyon del Oro 1. Deer Valley (17-0)

2. Estrella Foothills (18-0)

3. Flagstaff (15-3)

4. Greenway (15-2)

5. Salpointe Catholic (16-1) 6. Bradshaw Mountain (14-3)

7. Seton Catholic Prep (15-3) 8. Arcadia (14-3)

Dates and locations: The first round and quarterfinals will be respectively played at the higher seed’s home court on Nov. 5 and 7 at 6:30 p.m. The semifinal round is Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. at the higher seed’s home court. The championship round will be at Scottsdale Horizon on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m.

Top storylines: Salpointe Catholic has won two of the past three state championships. It lost to Greenway in the championship round last season and they could have a rematch against Salpointe in the quarterfinal round. Deer Valley lost in the quarterfinals to Salpointe last season as the sixth seed, and is having one of the biggest turnarounds in the 4A conference. The defending conference champion is Greenway who has fallen to the No. 4 seed after being the top seed in the 2018 playoffs. No one under the fourth seed has won a 4A state title.

Best Players: Estrella Foothills soph. outside hitter Emma Barber; Flagstaff soph. outside hitter Gracelyn Nez;

Favored teams to win the title: Deer Valley, Greenway, Estrella Foothills; Deer Valley jr. outside hitter Maleah Reynolds.

Sleeper picks: Arcadia, Seton Catholic, Flagstaff, Canyon del Oro.