Del Oro High School girls volleyball coach Stuart Kageta was just as surprised as anyone.
When the Sac-Joaquin Section released its playoff brackets Thursday, Kageta – using the section's power ratings formula – had anticipated his Golden Eagles receiving the eighth seed in Division III.
As he and everyone else found out however, Del Oro was seeded sixth.
"I had us roughly eighth," Kageta said. "So when I saw that we ended up sixth, I was pleasantly surprised."
Trouble is, according to the section's formula – in which a team's league winning percentage is multiplied by the league's strength rating – the Golden Eagles were No. 8.
Enter Martin Soyama, coach of third-seeded El Camino. Soyama, like Kageta and many section coaches, ran the numbers after league play ended Wednesday night and had Del Oro eighth as well.
When Soyama saw the final brackets, and saw his team was lined up to face the powerful Golden Eagles in the second round, his longtime coaching associate Curtis Gee phoned the section office.
What the El Camino camp heard came as a surprise.
The section office, which according to its bylaws may move teams up or down in a certain playoff bracket after power ratings determine the field, moved Del Oro up two spots to avoid a potential second-round match between Del Oro and St. Mary's of Stockton – the top seed in D-III.
"The computers get us most of the way there," assistant section commissioner John Williams said. "Then we use the human element to arrive at the final product."
Williams said that with the two section finalists automatically qualifying for the California Interscholastic Federation state playoffs, it makes sense to keep the "two perceived best teams" on opposite sides of the bracket – St. Mary's and Del Oro in D-III.
Del Oro was the top team in D-III based on the first half of league play, when the Golden Eagles were 5-1. But defeats in its final three league matches dropped Del Oro to eighth.
The section's bylaws state the commissioner (Pete Saco) and staff reserve the right to "(move) a team two spots in the upper half of the bracket to correct a serious seeding injustice."
The section can also move teams up or down to avoid having two teams in the same league meet in the first round or to move a league champion into the top half (first eight seeds) of a bracket if the formula places them in the lower half.
In his first year at El Camino, Soyama – who coached perennial power Loretto for the past nine years before it closed – led the Eagles to their first Capital Athletic League championship with a 15-0 league mark and The Bee's No. 8 ranking.
Soyama said that given his team's CAL record, El Camino should not have to face an opponent the caliber of Del Oro (ranked No. 4 by The Bee) until later in the tournament.
"To win a section championship you have to beat good teams," Soyama said. "But what is the point of having power ratings if you don't stick to them?"
Call The Bee's John Parker, (916) 326-5519.
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