SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The St. Francis volleyball team was awarded a No. 2 seed and will face No. 7 seed Lowell in the first round of the Northern California bracket Tuesday of the 2013 CIF State Volleyball Championships presented by Farmers Insurance.

“We are excited about the No. 2 seed and hopefully have the opportunity to host Saturday night,” said Head Coach Alynn Wright. “It is not going to be an easy road because all the teams at this point are good and well coached. It can be anybody’s game on any given night. We have to take it one match at time.”

Lowell (35-10), the San Francisco Section champion, will host the match at 7 p.m. The Cardinal are 11-1 at home this season. No. 1 seed and Sac-Joaquin Section champion Granite Bay is the No. 1 overall seed and will host No. 8 Oakland. No. 3 Homestead (26-7) will host No. 6 Heritage (30-9) and No. 4 Palo Alto (24-10) will travel to No. 5 San Ramon Valley (33-3) in the other first round matches.

Lowell and St. Francis have common opponents in El Camino and Granite Bay. Lowell lost to El Camino, while St. Francis beat them 3-0. Both schools lost to Granite Bay.

The winner of the St. Francis-Lowell game will face will take on the Homestead-Heritage winner. If they advance, the Troubadours would host the game on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. The NorCal Finals will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at home sites. The State Finals will be held Saturday, December 7, on the campus of Santiago Canyon College in Orange.

Overall, the tournament consists of 78 teams from across California competing in five divisions (16-team brackets), based on school enrollment. Second-round action will be Saturday, November 30 and the Regional Finals will be on Tuesday, December 3 with the winners advancing to the State Finals. All matches through the Regional Finals will take place at host sites and begin at 7:00 p.m. More detailed information about the event, as well as complete tournament brackets, can be found on the State CIF website at www.cifstate.org. 
Ticket prices for all rounds through the Regional Finals are $9 for adults and $5 for seniors (65+), children (5+) and students with a valid ASB card.

St. Francis lost in the state championship final last season.

2013 CIF State Girls Volleyball Brackets