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Thirty-six of the 50 boys volleyball teams will be in action Friday night as the regional final round kicks off across the state. From Middleton to Muskego, from Kimberly to Kenosha, come Friday evening the final 32 teams will be determined. Only Eight will earn berths to the 2011 WIAA State tournament, held at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Wauwatosa.

Following are some Friday night matchups you might not want to miss:

Sectional 1: #6 Green Bay Preble/East @ #3 Kimberly – This Fox Valley Association matchup, Part II takes place just four days after the Papermakers swept the Storm to finish off regular season FVA play. But I’d be willing to bet Preble/East comes back with a new plan of attack, as that 3-0 loss will be fresh in the memory. Kimberly finished third in the league at 6-2 for the second straight year behind Kaukauna and Appleton North.

Sectional 3: #5 Fort Atkinson @ #4 Madison La Follette – The Big Eight Conference is relatively isolated from the rest of the boys volleyball scene in the state of Wisconsin, as many league teams don’t stray too far in its non-conference scheduling. Fort’s trip to La Follette will be quite similar as the two squared off just a week ago. La Follette won an earlier matchup on the road as well as the Lancers hope to earn a sectional semifinal berth against juggernaut Catholic Memorial.

Sectional 4: #5 Beloit Memorial @ #4 Mukwonago – Now, I’m not sure how Beloit, despite going undefeated in the Big Eight Conference race with a 10-0 record and finishing two wins ahead of Middleton in the league standings, ended up with a #5-seed, two seeds lower than the Cardinals. Regardless, the Knights might just be playing with a chip on its shoulder this postseason as it will travel to Mukwonago for a regional final matchup. The Indians finished sixth in the Classic Eight Conference, but battled for a near-.500 overall record all season.

Sectional 5: #5 Kenosha Bradford @ #4 New Berlin – Bradford may have finished just 2-6 in regular season Southeast Conference play, but I wouldn’t count the Red Devils out of this year’s postseason. Head coach Marla Day has some pretty potent hitters on her side of the court, including one of the state’s kills leaders Paul Karabiac. New Berlin, co-champions of the Woodland, will likewise need excellent play out of its go-to, Nick Olson in order to survive and advance to take on formerly undefeated and top-seeded Tremper.

Sectional 7: #5 West Allis Hale @ #4 West Allis Central – The Bulldogs took the first matchup in the season opener at the Central quad, but it was the Huskies who exacted revenge by sweeping Central last Wednesday—presumably after the seeding meeting. So instead, it is Central that hosts Hale Friday night for the right to play top-ranked, top-seeded and the top-hillers of Marquette.

Sectional 7: #6 Waukesha North @ #3 Waukesha South – This crosstown matchup between the Northstars and Blackshirts is a rematch of an earlier Classic Eight matchup. While we don’t have the results of that matchup entered, one can only assume that South won it and thus earned a #3-seed despite a win percentage far below .500. Yet the two teams will tangle for the right to play #2-seed Pius in the sectional semifinals.

Sectional 8: #6 Brookfield Central @ #3 Wauwatosa West – The Lancers’ Greater Metro Conference is a big higher up in the pecking order of boys volleyball conferences, yet Brookfield Central’s 2-3 mark in that league wasn’t enough to boost it from the highest seed in the sectional. It will thus travel to Tosa West to face Stuart Burkart and the Hudson tandem of Travis and Devin, as the Trojans finished third in the Woodland league standings.

Sectional 8: #5 Whitefish Bay/Dominican @ #4 Brookfield East – King Arthur and Ye Olde British Parliament would be pleased at this co-operative as the DukeKnights managed a third place finish in the improving North Shore Conference. They’ll travel yonder to the East of Brookfield to take on the Spartans who finished third in the Greater Metro. Kyle Rohde is one of the state’s go-to outside hitters for East, and effectively shutting him down will be integral to WFB/D’s playoff hopes.