Volleyball: District 16 tourney is set to get under way Monday

The Burke County Titans and Powers Lake Ranchers volleyball team will get a quick induction into playoff pressure on Monday night in Tioga.

The two teams, seeded fourth and fifth in the district, will start off the District 16 tournament with a play-in game that will send one team to the regionals and one team home. Powers Lake will need a big game from key players such as senior Alexis Lucy, senior Nikita Elijah and junior Paige Hoiby in order to advance after having gone winless in-district in the regular season. Sophomore Morgan Pandolfo, junior Molly Aufforth and seniors Brittney Peterson and Kayla Peterson are among the key players for the Titans.

The winner will join Ray, Divide County and Tioga on Tuesday night for the district semifinals, playing for the district championship and seeding in the regional tournament. Those top three seeds have already clinched their spots in the regionals, which begin a week from Monday.

Ray earned the top seed this season after district the region last year. Seniors Samantha Heier and Leandra Reinholdt have come back to lead the athletic team, and freshman Olivia Corcoran has emerged as another front-row threat.

Divide County will be the second seed going into the tournament.

"We're there, but we're not where I want to be yet," said Divide County coach Kami Wehrman. "We've got a little further to go. We just need to find that way to win close games, we're not finding that will to win."

Tioga, the third seed, will be looking for a chance to knock off one of the top two teams. They play Divide County at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

"I know that we're seeded third right now, and I would love to improve on that, maybe move up the ladder a little bit," said Tioga coach Mandy Zerr.

District 16 tournament

Tioga High School

Monday, Nov. 2

Play-in

No. 4 Burke County vs. No. 5 Powers Lake, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 3

Semifinals

No. 2 Divide County vs. No. 3 Tioga, 6 p.m.

No. 1 Ray vs. winner Burke County/Powers Lake, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 5

Third place

Semifinal losers

Championship

Semifinal winners