The UIL volleyball playoffs for area schools in classes 6A and 5A continue to wind down, with the field for Region IV set to be whittled to four teams by the end of this weekend.
Here are some storylines to follow as the road to the state final at the Culwell Center in Garland draws closer:

Northside ISD’s flashback?
Once upon a time, the Northside ISD ruled the San Antonio area high school volleyball landscape.
With legendary coach Kirby Jameson pushing all the right buttons, and a roster that annually seemed to reload, Clark presided over the throne. The Cougars won two UIL state championships (1990, 2003), played for three more, and reached the state semifinals on three other occasions.
Jay, with Demetria Sance powering the way, went to four straight state tournaments, winning one title (1991), playing for another, and twice advancing to state semifinals. Sance went on to a record-setting career at the University of Texas, was a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team that played for the bronze medal, and she was Wagner’s first head coach.
Marshall followed suit with a trip to the big stage in 1996 under the guidance of coach Sue Rogers.
Soon after, though, the landscape changed. Whether it was the district’s rapid growth leading to the building of new high schools and the spreading out of talent, or the emergence of Reagan, or Churchill, New Braunfels, Johnson and New Braunfels Canyon having their moment, the dominance slowed.
By the time this weekend is over, however, it could be like old times.
With Harlan and Warren squaring off in a Class 6A third-round match on Friday, the Northside ISD is guaranteed at least one team in the regional semifinals. Wins on Saturday by O’Connor vs. Laredo United and Brandeis vs. Madison could give the district three of the four remaining spots in the Region IV-6A bracket.
It likely would be a first.
O’Connor (21-0), which has earned state berths in two of the past three seasons (2017 and 2018) under coach Yami Garcia, faces Laredo United (14-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Alice in a showdown of unbeaten teams. Brandeis (18-2) tangles with Madison (15-5) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Boerne Champion High School.
Brandeis’ lone District 28-6A loss came vs. Madison, which over the past week recorded its first playoff win since 1996 and reached the third round for the first time since the late 1980s. Karen Funk, who retired this past spring as North East ISD athletic director, was the Mavericks’ coach back then.
Warren (14-7) is in the third round for the first time since 2005, when it made the second of back-to-back trips. The Warriors fell in the regional quarterfinals to Clark in 2004 and Churchill in 2005.
Harlan (18-3) has advanced to the third round for the third straight season. The first two came when the Hawks were in Class 5A, losing to Alamo Heights a year ago and Boerne Champion in 2018. This time, they accomplished the feat after being moved to Class 6A during the UIL’s biennial realignment and reclassification in February.

Rattlers get their shake back
For a dozen years, from 2005 to 2017, Reagan authored one of the area’s most dominating postseason runs.
The Rattlers advanced to the UIL state tournament three times (2005, 2006, 2016), the regional final five times (2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2017) and the regional quarterfinals five times (2009, 2010, 2012, 2015). A loss to Clark in five sets in the second round in 2014 was the only time they didn’t reach the third round.
After losing to O’Connor in bidistrict in 2018 and Clemens in the second round a year ago, Reagan has returned to a familiar setting.
Coach Rachel Torvik has the Rattlers (18-3) in the third round for the first time since 2017. They swept Clemens in bidistrict and San Marcos in the second round.
Reagan takes on Austin Lake Travis at 6 p.m. Friday at Blanco High School.
Lake Travis (20-0), which has only lost one set this season, has plenty of ties to San Antonio. Head coach Brandace (Cantu) Boren graduated from Edison, played at UTSA, and previously had head-coaching stints at TMI, Jay and Warren. She also was an assistant coach at Churchill.
Two of Boren’s assistants, Kaitlyn Kluna and Tori Reyes, are O’Connor graduates. Kluna played volleyball and Reyes competed in soccer for the Panthers.
Lake Travis’ 6-foot-1 sophomore outside hitter Logan Brannan’s mother is among the top players in area history. Known then as Jessica Alvarado, she was a freshman standout on Jay’s 1991 state-championship team before transferring to MacArthur for her final three seasons. Alvarado went on to play at Long Beach State and teamed with Misty May Treanor in 1998 to lead the 49ers past Penn State in the final, 15-3, 15-10, 13-15, 14-16, 15-12.
Long Beach State finished with a 36-0 record, the first time a team concluded a season undefeated. With the score tied at 12 in the decisive fifth set, Alvarado had back-to-back kills to help the 49ers close on a 3-0 run and prevail before more than 13,000 fans in Wisconsin.

Here they go again
A long-standing sentiment in sports is that it is difficult for one team to defeat another twice in the same season.
What about three times?
Alamo Heights will be presented with that challenge when it takes on nemesis Dripping Springs at 6 p.m. Friday in a Class 5A third-round encounter at New Braunfels Canyon High School.
The Mules (17-2) won both league contests, prevailing in five sets on the road in October before earning a sweep at home earlier this month.
Alamo Heights and Dripping Springs (19-5) are facing off during the postseason for the second straight year and the fourth time in the past six seasons. The Mules won 25-12, 25-22, 25-21 in last year’s Region IV-5A final and 25-16, 28-26, 25-21 in this round in 2016.
Dripping Springs prevailed 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-9 in the regional final in 2014.
Alamo Heights and Dripping Springs are among three teams from District 26-5A still alive and kicking in the playoffs.
New Braunfels Canyon (22-1) — which went undefeated en route to claiming the league crown — tangles with Leander Rouse at 2 p.m. Saturday at Buda Johnson High School. The Cougarettes have won 19 in a row since falling in five sets to Smithson Valley on Sept. 22.

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1