Polk Middle to host volleyball, soccer playoff openers

Polk County Middle School will host opening-round Blue Ridge Middle School Conference playoff games on Monday for both volleyball and boys soccer.

The Wolverines volleyball squad will host Canton while the Polk boys soccer squad hosts Apple Valley, according to brackets released Friday by the BRMSC. Both matches will begin at 4:30 p.m.

Polk Middle’s football team will also take part in postseason play, heading to Madison for a consolation-round game. That game is slated for Thursday at 5 p.m.

With an 11-1 record, Polk County enters the volleyball tournament as the top seed, this being the East Division winner’s year to hold the top spot (seedings alternate between the conference’s two divisions each season). The Wolverines could see division rival Brevard in the semifinals, the Blue Devils traveling to Waynesville for their opener.

With victories in each, Polk Middle is guaranteed to be at home for all three rounds, including the championship match.

The complete pairings:
Canton (8, W4) at Polk County (1, E1)
Brevard (5, E3) at Waynesville (4, W2)
Bethel (6, W3) at Rugby (3, E2)
Apple Valley (7, E4) at Macon (2, W1)

The release of the tournament bracket offered good and bad news for the Polk Middle soccer squad.

On the plus side, Polk Middle’s boys soccer earned a first-round home match. But because of how the Blue Ridge conference does playoff seeding for soccer (it differs from volleyball as only 11 schools field soccer squads compared to 12 in volleyball), the Wolverines also landed in the difficult half of the eight-team bracket.

For soccer, the BRMSC takes the top eight teams from its two divisions and seeds them based on won-loss record regardless of division. Five of the eight teams in the boys soccer playoffs are from the East Division.

Polk finished tied with Apple Valley for second in the East Division, but earned a tiebreaker to claim the fourth overall seed, with Apple Valley seeded fifth. The two teams split their regular-season meetings, with Polk taking a 6-1 win in the most recent matchup.

If the Wolverines win their opener, a potential rematch with Flat Rock awaits. The top-seeded Eagles finished the season with an 11-0-1 record and host Hendersonville in their opener.

The complete pairings:
Hendersonville (8) at Flat Rock (1)
Apple Valley (5) at Polk County (4)
Canton (7) at Waynesville (2)
Brevard (6) at Macon (3)