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Tuesday marks the debut of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association 2011 regional tournaments, and the 11th year anniversary of the joining of the WIAA and WISAA high school athletic bodies. Public vs. Private school aside, by bringing together the state’s best high school athletes into one postseason tournament has given girls volleyball in particular a much needed boost. That single, shared stage is what teams are battling for, and it begins this week.

Following are some interesting points for this upcoming round of games, a What to Watch For this Tuesday.

There will be (at least) two state-ranked teams that won’t make it past first round:
Normally, Tuesday’s first round regional matches are snoozers with really only the 4-5 and a handful of 3-6 matchups going the distance. Unfortunately for one Division 2 regional in particular, four pretty decent teams will be sent home much earlier than they’d like. Five Conference champions, five ranked teams in the top 10 WVCA poll, another Honorable Mention, and seven teams with plus-.500 overall records... What a testament to Milwaukee’s southwest side!

Following are the eight teams’ resumes at last week’s regional seeding meeting. I do not feel jealous for those eight coaches who fought for their respective seeds…

#1 Catholic Memorial (36-6, 7-0 First Place Classic Eight) – No. 1 in WVCA poll
#2 East Troy (27-5, 10-0 First Place Rock Valley South) – No. 2 in WVCA poll
#3 Wisconsin Lutheran (19-12, 11-3 Second Place Wisconsin Little Ten) - No. 10 in WVCA poll
#4 Racine St. Catherine’s (25-7, 8-0 First Place Midwest Classic South) – No. 8 in WVCA poll
#5 New Berlin Eisenhower (20-6, 5-0 First Place Woodland Black) – Honorable Mention WVCA poll
#6 New Berlin West (28-5, 5-0 First Place Woodland Blue) - No. 6 WVCA poll
#7 Whitnall (11-8, 2-3 Fourth Place Woodland Black)
#8 Pewaukee (8-16, 3-3 Fourth Place Woodland Blue)

2010 sectional champions begin defense Tuesday:
While only Divisions 2 through 4 begin regional play Tuesday, there are several state semifinalists from 2010 who will return to the floor in hopes of repeating last year’s efforts. Some have a similar road to travel, while others have a much more difficult uphill climb. Here’s Tuesday’s slate:

Division 2
#1 Tomahawk (Bye)
#2 Waupun vs. #7 Omro
#4 Madison Edgewood vs. #5 Portage
#1 Catholic Memorial vs. #8 Pewaukee

Division 3
#1 Grantsburg vs. #8 Glenwood City
#2 Auburndale vs. #7 Thorp
#1 Wisconsin Heights vs. #8 Boscobel
#4 Racine St. Catherine’s vs. #5 New Berlin Eisenhower (Division 2)

Division 4
#1 McDonell Central vs. #8 Alma Center Lincoln
#2 Valley Christian vs. #7 Northland Lutheran
#3 Highland vs. #6 Pecatonica
#1 Catholic Central (Bye)

Intriguing First Round matchups:

Division 2

#5 Baldwin-Woodville @ #4 Somerset – The Spartans beat Baldwin-Woodville in Middle Border Conference play, but a later loss to Ellsworth forced them to share the crown with the Blackhawks. To the winner go the spoils in the second matchup of the season as only one co-champion will advance to likely play Altoona in the second round.

#5 Adams-Friendship @ #4 Lakeland – In the 4-5 coinflip, it is Adams-Friendship who will be making the 2-hour, 45-minute trek to Minocqua for the first round regional matchup. As if the drive alone isn’t enough to overcome, Lakeland’s Great Northern Conference experienced resume should prove abnormally tough for the second-place, South Central Conference Green Devils.

#5 Wrightstown @ #4 Seymour – Wrightstown finished runner-up in the Olympian Conference, while Seymour finished fifth in the Bay. The tiebreaker went back to a pair of head-to-head matches at the Ashwaubenon Invitational where the Thunder beat the Tigers twice—the second going the maximum three sets.

#6 Evansville @ #3 Mount Horeb – Mount Horeb will host its second straight first round regional in a rematch of last year’s 3-6 showdown between the Vikings and Blue Devils. Neither team won a match in its conference—in fact only three teams in the seven-team regional won a respective league match. Yet Mount Horeb is in line to pick up its second straight regional semifinal berth Tuesday.

#5 Portage @ #4 Madison Edgewood – The Crusaders, last year’s Division 2 runners-up, find themselves in uncharted water by having to play in a first round regional match for just the second time in the past seven years and first since 2009. Edgewood will host Portage, which went 3-9 in Badger North play as the Warriors will look to send Edgewood out of the tournament in the first round for the first time in school history.

#5 New Berlin Eisenhower @ #4 Racine St. Catherine’s – As mentioned above, both of these teams are on the state map and unfortunately one of them will not make it past the first round. Eisenhower, receiving votes in the latest WVCA poll, and St. Catherine’s, ranked No. 8 in Division 2, will clash for the right to play Catholic Memorial. The Angels will take their first leap of faith in D2 after running to last year’s Division 3 state championship undefeated.

#6 New Berlin West @ #3 Wisconsin Lutheran – New Berlin West may be ranked No. 6 in the state in the latest WVCA coaches poll, but that’s the exact seed the Vikings received in the D2 regional of death after losing what is presumably a handful of tiebreakers. West will travel to a very scrappy Wisconsin Lutheran, ranked No. 10, for the right to play likely No. 2 East Troy.

Division 3

#6 Unity @ #3 Spring Valley – The battling birds of prey (that is, assuming Cardinals from Spring Valley are more ferocious than the norm) might actually be closer than the usual 3-6 lopsided matchup. Unity pushed Luck to five sets to end its regular Lakeland West season, and could be an upset contender should a solid Spring Valley team that finished second in the Dunn-St. Croix not be prepared.

#5 Peshtigo @ #4 Gillett – The only difference in this 4-5 coinflip came down to Gillett’s sweeping of the Bulldogs during the regular season—in turn handing Wausaukee the Marinette & Oconto crown. But second-place Peshtigo is out for revenge and should not go down easily to the host Tigers, especially if the Romenesko pair of Taylor and Hannah are on the loose.

#6 Brillion @ #3 Manawa – The Lions may not have a very high winning percentage on the year, but the strength of their Olympian Conference schedule might be enough to push the Wolves a bit more this time around. Manawa did win a non-conference dual in September in sweeping fashion, but the third set went 28-26.

#5 Belleville @ #4 Iowa-Grant – Belleville, which finished third in the Capitol South Conference, will head West to Livingston to take on another large cat Iowa-Grant, which finished fourth in the SWAL. Both middle-seeded teams representing recently successful programs will scratch and claw for the right to play defending sectional champion Wisconsin Heights.

#5 Parkview @ #4 Brodhead – Parkview’s loss to the Cardinals was ultimately the difference between who hosted this first round matchup, but the Vikings did beat Brodhead earlier in the season. This rubber match is for all the marbles—those marbles being the right to play at Deerfield in the second round.

#5 Wild Rose @ #4 Weyauwega-Fremont – The Indians, who finished third place in the Central Wisconsin Conference Eight division, handled fourth-place CWC Ten Wild Rose an early-season loss. In a divisional crossover rematch, the Wildcats will look to keep the ball away from W-F juniors Bailey Kapitzke and Teal Tomaszewski.

#5 Lomira @ #4 Laconia – Despite finishing runner up in the Flyway Conference to Kettle Moraine Lutheran the Spartans fell all the way to a #4 seed in the regional meeting. They will look to take out their frustrations on visiting Lomira, which Laconia swept just two weeks ago.

Division 4

#6 Birchwood @ #3 Mellen – Bobcats head coach Mallory Lehman improved Birchwood’s program to a .500 team after going winless in 2010, and the Bobcats will look to keep its upstart season running as it travels to Indianhead East division champion Mellen. The Granite Diggers recorded a perfect 5-0 mark in the Indianhead East, but lost a bit of momentum as of late, dropping a pair to Hurley at the Midgettes’ home invite and another pair to IC powerhouse Washburn.

#5 Frederic @ #4 Lake Holcombe – The Chieftains may have been East Lakeland co-champions, but in a regional packed with four solid teams, they fell to #4. Lake Holcombe has a solid front line in Paige Geist, Rebekah Guthman and Britney Hettamer, as well as all-around Tiffany Marshall. Frederic will need to rely on its rigorous West Lakeland schedule to conjure up the upset bit.

#5 Laona @ #4 Niagara – Niagara finished in the second tier of the M&O race this season, but took a set from league champ Wausaukee twice and pushed runner-up Peshtigo to five in early September. The Badgers will welcome Laona, which had hopes of vying for the Northern Lakes title early this season, but cooled off to a 5-4 mark. The Fighting Kelleys had won four straight of those NLC battles, but dropped its season finale to Elcho in five sets.

#6 Alma @ #3 Pepin – This matchup is especially intriguing if not solely based on the schools’ relationship to one another—come winter, Pepin and Alma will co-op for basketball again this year in what has been a relatively successful pairing. Though one half of that partnership will be ousted in the first round as DSC second-place Pepin hosts the Rivermen Tuesday.

#5 Stockbridge @ #4 Princeton – Stockbridge rejoins regional A as a bit of a wildcard having left the Central Lakeshore Conference this season. Playing an independent schedule, Stockbridge has an almost identical overall record to its first round opponent, Princeton. Yet the Tigers, who finished seventh in the Trailways North, got the nod at the seeding meeting. This matchup should be interesting to see whether a strong conference schedule matters.

#6 Kohler @ #3 Sheboygan Christian – Sheboygan Christian took the season series against Kohler, sweeping them in dual play and squeaking past the Blue Bombers 2-1 at last weekend’s Central Lakeshore Conference Tournament. The Eagles have one of the taller middles in Cherith Touw, who should oppose Kohler’s junior outsides in Abi Patterson and Alexis Rodriguez.

#5 Williams Bay @ #4 Black Hawk – Six or seven years ago, Williams Bay was a perennial Division 4 state tournament contender. Since, the Bulldogs have been in a bit of a rebuilding phase—but such is the case with several rural public schools. Tuesday they will travel to South Wayne to take on Black Hawk, which finished third in the Six Rivers East. The Warriors have a dynamite athlete in sophomore Jen Wellnitz, who Williams Bay should be keying on should it want a chance at top-ranked Catholic Central.