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The North Carolina High School Athletic Association has released the volleyball brackets for the playoffs. Three Stanly County teams have qualified for the postseason, which opens Tuesday starting at 7 p.m.

Thirty-two teams in the four classifications have qualified for the playoffs as opposed to 64 last season. The playoffs are also one round shorter, with five wins needed to earn a state title.

2A Playoffs

West Stanly (11-0) enters the 2A Western Region as the No. 2 seed and would potentially have home court advantage through to the regional finals.

The Colts will host No. 15 Central Davidson (9-5), who finished third in the Central Carolina Conference behind the Oak Grove Grizzlies and the South Rowan Raiders.

The winner between West Stanly and Central Davidson will face either the No. 7 seeded Raiders or No. 10 South Point Thursday.

1A Playoffs

North Stanly, by virtue of winning the Yadkin Valley Conference championship, is the No. 5 seed in the 1A Western Region and will host the No. 12 seed Rosman Tigers (9-2). The Tigers finished second in the Smoky Mountain Conference, losing twice to No. 7 seed Murphy (13-0).

Gray Stone Day, which finished third in the YVC, has earned the No. 13 seed in the 1A West. The Knights (7-3) will travel to No. 4 seed Alleghany (12-2) to take on a Trojans team which finished second in the 1A/2A Mountain Valley Conference to 2A West Wilkes.

The winners in both of those games will face each other in the second round of the playoffs Thursday.