Not to beat a really dead horse, but Monday's unveiling of this year's Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association volleyball tournament field provides yet the latest example of the flawed manner in which teams are seeded and placed in the draw.

Just take a look at the 3A East region, where Reservoir, the area's top-ranked team, drew the No.1 seed. Beyond a first-round bye, the Gators' reward for their unbeaten season is a potential second-round match against No. 12 Centennial, the defending 3A champions, who got the eighth seed by virtue of a random draw. It's just silly to have a potential state or regional final match in the second round, unless a particular region is that stacked.

In other developments, No.2 Broadneck and No.6 Severna Park occupy the top two seeds in the 4A East, while No. 7 Dulaney is the top seed in the 4A North. No.8 Catonsville is the second seed in the 3A North region behind Mervo. Ninth-ranked River Hill is seeded third in 2A South, while No. 10 Fallston occupies the second seed on the other side of the bracket with Reservoir. In other seeding quirks, No. 11 Glenelg is the fifth seed in the 1A South region, while 14th-ranked Towson is the fifth seed in 3A North. No. 15 Francis Scott Key drew the third seed in the 2A West region.

Tournament play opens Friday with regional first-round games, followed by the quarterfinals on Monday and the regional semifinals next Wednesday. The regional championship matches are scheduled for Nov. 9 and 10. The state semifinals will be played Nov. 12-15 at the Ritchie Coliseum at College Park, with the 1A matches scheduled for Monday, the 2A's on Tuesday and so on, leading to a quadruple-header of state championships on Nov. 17, also at Ritchie.