After battling through the regular season and Los Padres League schedule for most of the season, the boys tennis teams from St. Joseph High and Santa Ynez were rewarded with first-round home matches in the CIF Southern Section Playoffs.

The Knights and Pirates will both begin Division IV action at home at 3 p.m. on Thursday, according to brackets released by the Southern Section office on Monday.

Larry Popkin's Santa Ynez squad, the No. 1 seed from the LPL, opens Division IV play against Mayfair of Lakewood, while Patrick Ortiz's St. Joseph opens against San Gabriel Valley League No. 2 entry Downey.

In other Division IV action, LPL No. 3 Lompoc - featuring league individual champ Alex Jensen - opens with a wild-card match today at home against Norwalk, the No. 4 out of the Suburban League; Templeton travels to Glenn High of Norwalk for another Division IV wild-card match.

In Division II action, PAC-7 League champ San Luis Obispo, the No. 3 overall seed in the division, opens with Pacific View No. 2 Rio Mesa on Thursday; PAC-7 runner-up Arroyo Grande was forced on the road for a first-round matchup against Arcadia, the No. 2 out of the Pacific League, while Atascadero travels to Prep League champ Pasadena Poly.

Nipomo opens Division II play today at 3 p.m. in a wild-card road match at Glendale.

All five of the area's CIF-bound volleyball teams sit in the Division II bracket, with LPL champ Santa Ynez hosting PAC-7 runner-up San Luis Obispo on Friday night in a first-round matchup.

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St. Joseph takes its LPL runner-up status on the road to Villa Park to open the playoffs, while Righetti travels to Santa Ana, and PAC-7 champ Arroyo Grande hosts San Marcos.

The brackets for baseball and softball will be released on Monday, following the conclusion of their regular seasons.

SY Golf earns top-10

finish in Divisonal

The Santa Ynez High golf team posted an eighth-place finish to post the highest Los Padres League result in the CIF Southern Section's Central Coast Regional, held on Monday at the Montecito Country Club.

Parker Colvin led the Pirates with a round of two-over 74, followed by 78s from Tyler Shean and Taylor Magallanes, an 83 from A.J. Woronovich and an 89 from Mike Swetech.

Chris Blystone led St. Joseph to a 12th-place finish in the 18-team field by equaling Colvin's round of 74.

Nipomo led the PAC-7 contingent with a fourth-place finish, while Atascadero took fifth and San Luis Obispo sixth.

Santa Barbara won the team event behind medalist Shane Lebow's six-under 66.

Blystone and Shean will be joined by Righetti's Bobby Barajas and Nipomo's Tyler Clark at the CIF Individual Regionals, held next Monday at Sterling Hills in Camarillo.

May 6, 2008