Free State High’s volleyball team earned the No. 4 seed in the Class 6A state tournament and will face No. 1 Blue Valley West, No. 5 Shawnee Mission East and No. 8 Shawnee Mission Northwest in pool play Friday at the Topeka Expocentre.

The Firebirds (33-6) will open against SM East (28-8) at 9:30 a.m. Friday, followed by SM Northwest (16-20) at 11:30 a.m. and Blue Valley West (39-0) at 1:30 p.m. The top two teams from the pool will advance to the state semifinals Saturday.

Back at state for the first time since 2004, the Firebirds have played all three opponents this season. Free State beat SM East and SM Northwest in a quad Sept. 8 at FSHS, and lost on the road in straight sets to Blue Valley West on Sept. 29.

Among area schools, Tonganoxie is the No. 5 seed in 4A-I and Wellsville earned the No. 2 seed in 3A. The Chieftains (23-13) will begin play at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Salina Bicentennial Center. Wellsville (35-4) starts at 3:30 p.m. Friday at White Auditorium in Emporia.