FHSAA Beach Volleyball Rankings: Gulf Breeze ranked No. 23 in entire state, top in region

Just call it perfect timing.

As spring break hits Northwest Florida, the Florida High School Athletic Association released its first rankings for beach volleyball of the season.

The rankings were released on Monday, meaning no games played that night were added to a team's rating or strength of schedule. There aren't many games being played this week, anyway, due to the break from school.

Playoffs are a little more than a month away for beach volleyball, with district tournaments beginning on April 21. Region tournaments begin after on April 29 and go through early May. Then all eyes are on Tallahassee at Florida State's Beach Volleyball Courts for the state championships on March 9-10.

There are only two teams from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, so it makes it pretty simple who the top two teams are. Gulf Breeze, with a 4-2 record and a 14.304 rating, is ranked 23rd in the state. Pace, ranked 66th in the state, has a 7.388 rating and a 2-1 record. The county rivals will battle it out on April 1.

Here are the first FHSAA beach volleyball rankings for teams for area teams, plus a way-too-early playoff watch.

Class 2A

Gulf Breeze beach volleyball defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 3-1, Berkely Prep 3-2 to win the FHSAA Beach Volleyball State Championship at Florida State University on Sunday, May 12, 2024.

Gulf Breeze (14.304) – first in District 1-2A, first in Region 1-2A, sixth in Class 2A, 23rd overall in state
Pace (7.388) – fourth in District 1-2A, seventh in Region 1-2A, 24th in Class 2A, 66th overall in state

Way-too-early playoff watch

Pace's Dani Burton (No. 23) digs Gulf Breeze serve during beach volleyball action at the Gulf Breeze Community Center on Friday, April 5, 2024.

District tournaments aren't for another month, but it's still fun to examine what the playoff scenarios would look like if the regular season ended today as far as region tournaments.

District champions automatically advance to the region tournament after the district tourney, and there are four at-large bids per region. For the playoff watch, we'll presume that the top team in each district wins the district tournament and moves onto regionals – that's what we're going to share below.

Rankings are bound to change after district tournaments as well, so we'll pretend that they didn't change at all through districts to make things a little easier. Remember: anything can happen in the playoffs.

Here's what the region tournaments would look like.

Region 1-2A

1. Gulf Breeze (1)* vs. 8. Beachside (4)*
2. Chiles (2)* vs. 7. Pace (1)
3. Bishop Kenny (3)* vs. 6. Crestview (1)
4. Leon (2) vs. 5. Mosley (1)

Notes: The state playoff bracket looks a little different for beach volleyball, with a pair of play-in games to kick things off before the first round of the state tournament begins. There will be a re-seeding starting the first round for the Top 16 teams. Gulf Breeze, as the top seed in the region, would host as long as it keeps winning in the play-in matches. The Dolphins would take on Beachside. Pace, ranked sixth, would have to go to Chiles to start the tournament.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: FHSAA Beach Volleyball Rankings: Gulf Breeze and Pace both within top 100 teams

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