Regional Playoffs Preview: 3A

Playoff season has officially started across the state of Virginia. Seeding has been done, and match-ups have been set, and Friday, the first round got under way. Here, we'll take a look at the Class 3 playoffs, in particular, Region A. <strong>Region A: </strong> <strong>Teams Remaining:</strong> #5 IC Norcom @ <span style="font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 400">#1 </span>Hopewell #3 Petersburg @ #2 Park View <strong style="font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size: 16px">The Run Down: </strong><span style="font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 400">The #1 seed, the Lady Blue Devils of Hopewell cruised Friday night, in a first round win against Phoebus, 62-25. After suffering a senior night lost to the Lady Chiefs of Monacan, that is clearly behind the Lady Blue Devils, who now look to host the Lady Greyhounds, the #5 seed who will be traveling from Portsmouth. The Lady Greyhounds took down the #4 seed, Tabb, in a ten-point road victory Friday. The veteran Lady Blue Devils, who feature seven seniors; Courtney Scott, Tyjana Simmons, Alena Puaauli-Pelham, Daysia Lee, Taqiya Wilson, Zykerriah Brooks, and Tytianna Brown, in addition to super sophomore, Messiah Hunter, they don't show any signs of slowing down. With the boys squad also in action at home on Tuesday, as they were on Friday night, the Lady Greyhounds can expect to come into an exciting atmosphere, and will have to come out the gate running to keep up with the several scoring options the Lady Blue Devils can throw at you. </span> As for the other matchup, the Lady Crimson Wave of Petersburg, who are seeded at #3, will take the trip down 85S to play the Lady Dragons of Park View, the #2 seed. The Petersburg squad is short handed at the moment, due to injuries and suspensions, and will have to battle if they want to see the Lady Blue Devils of Hopewell for a third time this season, they are currently 0-2 against them. As for the Lady Dragons, the level of competition they play during the regular season is a bit less than what they will see in the regional tournament, as well as beyond. This doesn't seem to be a con for the Lady Dragons though, as they played host to Booker T. Washington in the first round, and won by double digits. This game will certainly be a pretty balanced matchup, with the winner having to travel to top seeded, Hopewell, for the regional championship. <p style="text-align: center"><em><strong>Note: Both winners will advance to the state quarterfinals. Losers will be automatically eliminated. </strong></em></p> The Lady Blue Devils made it to the Class 3 State Championship last season. They lost to the Lady Cavaliers of Lord Botetourt. They look to make it back to the state championship playoffs with a big win on Tuesday night. The two regional championship contenders will both proceed to the state quarterfinals, to be held next week.