Playoff volleyball is on the horizon and area tournament brackets have already been constructed with three Baldwin County teams entering as regular-season area champions in Bayside Academy, Gulf Shores and Bayshore Christian.

They’ll be joined by the other nine representatives of the Alabama High School Athletics Association in kicking off area tournaments Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Also starting the postseason this week is Robertsdale’s Central Christian School which earned the No. 2 seed heading into the Panhandle Christian Conference’s West Regional Tournament that started Tuesday.

Snook Christian Academy in Foley still had four regular season matches left on the schedule before the Alabama Independent School Association’s postseason begins.

On the AHSAA side of things, Bayside Academy (Class 6A), Gulf Shores (Class 5A) and Bayshore Christian (Class 2A) went into its respective area tournaments as the No. 1 seed where the Admirals started their quest for their national record 21st consecutive state title.

It will be Bayside Academy's first postseason on the Class 6A circuit after they were moved up due to the competitive balance factor, as was Bayshore Christian which won the 2020 state championship and finished last season as the Class 1A runner-up.

On the Class 7A stage, the Daphne Trojans, Fairhope Pirates and Foley Lions fell in line behind the Area 2 champion McGill-Toolen Yellow Jackets who have a target on their backs despite finishing as the state runners-up.

Behind the Admirals in the Class 6A Area 2 bracket are the Spanish Fort Toros, Robertsdale Golden Bears and Baldwin County Tigers who will all look to spoil Bayside Academy's introduction to the new classification but will have to do it at the Admirals' home gymnasium.

Gulf Shores took the top spot in Class 5A Area 1 and earned a bye to the finals where it drew the winner of Elberta and B.C. Rain. Orange Beach (No. 2) and St. Michael (No. 3) took the middle spots in the Class 4A Area 1 bracket in between UMS-Wright Prep and Satsuma.

With only two teams in Class 2A Area 1, Bayshore Christian swept Chickasaw in the teams' lone regular season area match and owned the top seed in the area bracket.

The Central Christian Saints finished 9-1 in the Panhandle Christian Conference and earned the No. 2 seed entering the West Regional Tournament which put them through into the second round of the bracket.

Central Christian was set to draw the winner of the 3-6 matchup, Lighthouse and Atmore, Friday night ahead of the finals set for Saturday. Before the varsity final happens, the junior-varsity championship is scheduled for 1 p.m. and features the Saints' JV squad against Lighthouse for the JV West Final.

The Panhandle Christian Conference's volleyball final for varsity and JV is set for Oct. 21-22 at Gulf Pointe Latin School in Navarre, Florida.

Stay tuned to our social media channels (@GCMSportsAL) and website (gulfcoastmedia.com/sports) for more postseason updates from the volleyball courts.