By, Josh Wilets
New to the 2026-2027 school year, the NJSIAA has updated the structure of the postseason as it pertains to sections and bracketing. In addition, school classifications based on enrollment and have also been refreshed for this season.
POSTSEASON STRUCTURE:
This season, there will be a large restructure as to how the NJSIAA state tournament will be set up.
In the public ranks, there will no longer be Sections within a group. For instance, take group 1. Section 1 and section 2 will now be combined to form North 1. The same goes for groups 2, 3 and 4. There will no longer be a group semifinal round, which would have featured Section 1 and section 2 for the North, for instance.
For group 1, 20 teams will quality in the North and 20 in the South. Four play-in games will take place, following this seeding layout: 16 vs 17, 13 vs 20, 15 vs 18 and 14 vs 19. All other groups will qualify 16 teams from each of the North and the South and will follow standard seeding procedures.
For non-public schools, the structure is as follows: North group A, North group B, South group A and South group B. North A will play North B, and South A will play South B as in years past.
Typically, if less than 20 (group 1) or 16 (all other groups) qualify, the highest remaining teams may receive a bye. Last season, 11 teams qualified in North non-public B. The top 5 teams received a bye round.
In terms of power points, the top 17 highest power-point results for a given team will determine seeding. In the past, it has been the best 16 and has since increased starting this season.
What hasn’t changed is the length of the matches. All NJSIAA state volleyball tournament matches will be played to a best-of-5 match-length.
CLASSIFICATIONS:
(teams in BOLD are Charter/Co-Op programs)
North 1
- BelovED Charter
- Bergen Charter
- Bogota
- Butler
- Caldwell
- Cedar Grove
- College Achieve Paterson
- Cresskill
- Dumont
- Elmwood Park
- Emerson
- Empowerment Charter
- Gateway Charter
- Glen Ridge
- Glen Rock
- Hanover Park
- Hasbrouck Heights
- Hawthorne
- Hoboken Charter
- Indian Hills
- Jefferson
- Kinnelon
- Midland Park
- Mountain Lakes
- Newark Lab
- New Milford
- North Arlington
- Palisades Park
- Park Ridge
- Passaic Charter
- Paterson Arts & Science Charter
- Paterson Charter School Science & Technology
- Pequannock
- Ramsey
- Ridgefield
- Rutherford
- Saddle Brook
- Secaucus
- Verona
- Waldwick
- Wallington
- Weehawken
- West Caldwell Tech
- Whippany Park
- Wood-Ridge
North 2
- Becton
- Demarest
- Dover
- Dwight-Morrow
- Hackettstown
- Harrison
- High Point
- Hoboken
- Lakeland
- Leonia
- Lodi
- Lyndhurst
- Madison
- Mahwah
- Manchester Regional
- Mendham
- Montville
- Morris Tech
- Newark Collegiate
- Paramus
- Parsippany
- Pascack Hills
- Pascack Valley
- Passaic Valley
- Ridgefield Park
- River Dell
- Science Park
- Sparta
- Vernon
- Warren Hills
- West Milford
- West Morris Central
- West Side
- Westwood
North 3
- Belleville
- Bergenfield
- Central
- Chatham
- Cliffside Park
- Cranford
- Ferris
- Fort Lee
- Garfield
- Millburn
- Morris Hills
- Morris Knolls
- Mount Olive
- North Hunterdon
- Northern Highlands
- Nutley
- Old Tappan
- Orange
- Parsippany Hills
- Payne Tech
- Rahway
- Ramapo
- Randolph
- Ridge
- Roxbury
- Scotch Plains-Fanwood
- Shabazz
- Summit
- Teaneck
- Tenafly
- Wayne Hills
- Wayne Valley
- West Essex
North 4
- Barringer
- Bayonne
- Bergen Tech
- Bloomfield
- Bridgewater-Raritan
- Clifton
- Columbia
- Dickinson
- East Orange
- Elizabeth
- Fair Lawn
- Hackensack
- Irvington
- Kearny
- Linden
- Livingston
- Memorial
- Montclair
- Morristown
- Newark East Side
- North Bergen
- North Star Academy
- Passaic
- Passaic Tech
- Paterson Eastside
- Paterson Kennedy
- Phillipsburg
- Plainfield
- Ridgewood
- Union
- Union City
- Watchung Hills
- West Orange
- Westfield
South 1
- American History
- Arts
- Asbury Park
- Bard
- Bernards
- Bound Brook
- Buena
- Burlington
- Camden
- Camden Eastside
- Cape May Tech
- Central Jersey College Charter
- College Achieve Central Charter
- Collingswood
- Dayton
- Delaware Valley
- Florence
- Foundation Collegiate
- Highland Park
- Johnson
- Keyport/Henry Hudson
- KIPP Cooper Norcross
- LEAP Academy
- Lindenwold
- Lower Cape May
- McNair
- New Providence
- Newark Data Science
- Newark Global Studies
- Newark Vocational
- Ocean Academy Charter
- Palmyra
- Point Pleasant Beach
- Raritan
- Riverside
- Roselle Park
- Shore
- South River
- Technology (Newark)
- Thomas Edison Energysmart Charter
- University
- Woodbury
South 2
- Clark
- Barnegat
- Burlington
- Camden Academy Charter
- Cedar Creek
- Cinnaminson
- Delran
- (Essex Tech Market Street)
- Governor Livingston
- Haddonfield
- Hillside
- Holmdel
- Hopewell Valley
- Lacey
- Lincoln
- Manasquan
- Manchester Township
- Mastery Camden
- Middle Township
- North Plainfield
- Oakcrest
- Ocean City
- Pennsauken Tech
- Pinelands
- Pleasantville
- Rumson-Fair Haven
- Salem Tech
- Seneca
- Snyder
- South Plainfield
- Sterling
- Timber Creek
- Voorhees
- Wall
- Weequahic
South 3
- Absegami
- Brick Memorial
- Brick Township
- Camden County Technical School at Sicklerville
- Carteret
- Central Regional
- Cherry Hill West
- Clearview
- Colonia
- Colts Neck
- Freehold Boro
- Hammonton
- Highland
- Hightstown
- Iselin Kennedy
- Lakewood
- Long Branch
- Mainland
- Middletown North
- Middletown South
- Montgomery
- Moorestown
- Northern Burlington
- Pennsauken
- Princeton
- Red Bank Regional
- Shawnee
- Toms River East
- Toms River South
- Triton
- Westhampton Tech
- West Windsor-Plainsboro North
- Winslow
South 4
- Atlantic City
- Atlantic Tech
- Cherokee
- Cherry Hill East
- East Brunswick
- Eastern
- Edison
- Egg Harbor
- Franklin
- Gloucester Tech
- Hillsborough
- Howell
- Hunterdon Central
- Jackson Township
- JP Stevens
- Kingsway
- Lenape
- Marlboro
- Monroe
- New Brunswick
- North Brunswick
- Old Bridge
- Perth Amboy
- Piscataway
- Rancocas Valley
- Sayreville
- South Brunswick
- Southern
- Toms River North
- Washington Township
- Williamstown
- Woodbridge
Non-Public North A
- Dwight-Englewood
- Hudson Catholic
- Holy Angels
- Immaculate Heart Academy
- Kent Place
- Montclair Kimberley
- Morristown-Beard
- Mount St. Dominic
- Newark Academy
- Oak Knoll
- Paramus Catholic
- Pingry
- St. Elizabeth
Non-Public North B
- Al-Ghazaly
- DePaul
- Eastern Christian
- Gill St. Bernard’s
- Golda Och
- Hawthorne Christian
- Mary Help of Christians
- Morris Catholic
- Pioneer Academy
- Pope John
- Saddle River Day
- St. Benedict’s
- St. Mary’s
- St. Vincent
- Villa Walsh
Non-Public South A
- Camden Catholic
- Donovan Catholic
- Immaculata
- Mount St. Mary
- Notre Dame
- Paul VI
- Princeton Day
- Red Bank Catholic
- St. John Vianney
- St. Rose
- St. Thomas Aquinas
- Trinity Hall
- Union Catholic
Non-Public South B
- Bishop Eustace
- Franklin School
- Gloucester Catholic
- Holy Cross Prep
- Mother Seton
- Our Lady of Mercy
- Roselle Catholic
- Rutgers Prep
- St. Dominic
- St. Joseph (Hammonton)
- Stuart Day
- Timothy Christian
- Wardlaw-Hartridge
