Girls water polo postseason preview

What: Water polo sectionals begin in earnest today, with area teams competing in three complexes. The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games for each site follow the same format: quarterfinals at 4:30, 5:45, 7:15 and 8 p.m. Wednesday; semifinals at 4:30 and 5:45 p.m. Friday; championship games at noon Saturday.

At Barrington: Mid-Suburban League champion Fremd (23-3) earned the top seed and seems to be a team on a mission. The second seed is MSL West Division runner-up Barrington (18-6) and the third seed is Hoffman Estates (13-12). It seems likely the Vikings and Fillies will meet for the sectional championship on Saturday. Other area teams hoping to make their mark include No. 4 Schaumburg, No. 5 Palatine, No. 6 Rolling Meadows, No. 7 Conant and No. 8 Elk Grove.

At Vernon Hills: The top seed here is Stevenson (19-10), the No. 2 seed is Mundelein (19-10), and the No. 3 seed is Wheeling. The bad news is that the MSL East champion Wildcats (19-5) would likely have to beat both the Patriots and Mustangs to advance. The good news is that might not be so farfetched this year, especially with the way Wheeling played the latter portions of the season.

At Glenbrook North: Loyola (20-9) earned the top seed, followed by New Trier (22-6) and Evanston (12-15). MSL East runner-up Prospect (14-10, 8-2) got the No. 4 seed and meets No. 5 Hersey (22-7) at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday in what figures to be an excellent quarterfinal match.

Advancement: The Barrington sectional winner meets the Lyons sectional winner, and the Vernon Hills sectional winner meets the Glenbrook North sectional winner in Elite Eight play in state quarterfinal action on Thursday, May 21 at Stevenson High School. Semifinals will be at 9 and 10:15 a.m. Saturday, May 23, with the third-place game (3:30 p.m.) and championship (6:30 p.m.) later that day.

Here we go again: Unbeaten Fenwick (21-0) has played in the state championship game every year since 2004.

- Aaron Gabriel