Sam Houston will lead Southwest La. schools into the Louisiana High School Athletic Association volleyball playoffs with the highest local seed as the No. 5 in Division I.

The Broncos earned their first top-5 seed since 2008 when they were the No. 1 seed in Division II.

Sam Houston (28-10) will host No. 28 Covington (23-13) today at 5 p.m. with a potential matchup up with district rival No. 12 Southside (21-8) in the regional round. Sam Houston tied with Southside and Sulphur (20-11) for the Division I, District 3 championship.

“I am excited,” Sam Houston head coach Rene Fontenot said. “I think it is a good draw for us, to be honest.

“I like that we pulled Covington. We saw them at the Terrebonne tournament, and I know that we can beat Southside. By that second round, there are a lot of quality schools. I don’t know if they (Covington) are a 28, they are better than that. They are in the New Orleans area with a wealth of competition.

“They have some size. We can’t just assume that we can win. They talked about bringing a fan bus. They have a good following. It’s a complement to their program.”

Sam Houston is 17-5 since mid-September and is looking to reach the state tournament for the first time since 2016. The state tournament will be held at the Cajundome in Lafayette for the second consecutive year Nov. 10-12.

“I think we have gotten even better at adjustments,” Fontenot said. “They are comfortable running 6-2 or a 5-1, that took some doing in the last couple of weeks.

“We were forced into that in the Sulphur match. We are confident. They have played a lot of tournaments in a lot of different locations, so we are in a good place and healthy. The girls have remained close and get along well.”

Westlake (24-10) and Iota (25-12) in Division III are the only other area teams hosting in the first round.

No. 14 Westlake will take on No 19 Brusly (18-15) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, while No. 11 Iota drew a matchup with No. 22 Cabrini (14-23) to open the playoffs.

In Division I, No. 17 Sulphur missed a home game by .27 points and will travel to No. 16 Hahnville (26-12) on Wednesday at 5 p.m. No. 32 Barbe (14-19) heads to No. 1 Dominican (38-3) on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. LaGrange (11-10) is the No. 22 seed in Division II and will travel to No. 11 Riverdale (20-16).

In Division II, No. 24 St. Louis Catholic (15-21) will play at No. 9 St. Michael the Archangel (19-12) at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, while No. 18 Iowa (27-15) will face No. 15 Vandebilt Catholic (18-15) at 5 p.m. in Houma.