DeKalb County’s volleyball teams are getting ready for area tournaments as they wrap up regular-season action this week.
The top four finishers in each area tournament will qualify for the state tournament, which begins with first-round action Oct. 17 and 18.
St. Pius X, last year’s state runner-up in Class AAA, will be joined by Decatur and Cross Keys in the area 5AAA tournament, which will be held next Tuesday and Thursday.
The first two rounds next Tuesday will be hosted by the top two seeds, with the remaining rounds to take place next Thursday at Buford.


St. Pius X (32-13-1, 6-0) will be one of those top two seeds in 5AAA. The Lady Golden Lions, ranked third in Class AAAA in the latest PrepCountry.com/GACA state poll, were tied for first place with Blessed Trinity at the end of last week.
Marist (15-9, 3-0) — ranked second in AAAA — is the favorite at next week’s area 4AAAA tournament, which also includes Chamblee, Stone Mountain and Redan.
Lakeside is another county team looking to make some noise in the postseason.
The Lady Vikings (19-4, 10-0) will be the top seed at the area 6AAAAA tournament, with Dunwoody, Stephenson and Tucker also among the teams.
First-round matches will be played next Tuesday at Dunwoody, with the remainder of the tournament scheduled to be held next Thursday at Tucker.
Lakeside is the favorite to win the area 6AAAAA tournament and will try to duplicate or surpass last year’s run to the AAAA state quarterfinals in AAAAA this time around.
Leading the way for Lakeside is senior outside hitter Jenny Miller, who leads the county in kills and digs, while junior setter Gloria McGoldrick is the county leader in assists and senior Amy VanSant is second in aces and third in digs.
Sitting right behind Lakeside in the area standings is Dunwoody (15-19, 9-1), which will be the second seed in the tournament as well as the host for the first-round matches.
Druid Hills will play in the area 8AAAAAA tournament, which will be held next Thursday and Saturday at Norcross.
The Lady Red Devils (9-14, 0-7) were in last place in 8AAAAAA at the beginning of the week.
Paideia and Yeshiva will play in the area 4A tournament, which will held next Tuesday and Thursday.