Five TIMES NEWS area teams will be competing in the District 11 volleyball playoffs, which begin Friday afternoon.

Pleasant Valley, the No. 5 seed in Class AAA, opens play today when it hosts East Stroudsburg North in a play-in game.The other four teams Lehighton, Panther Valley and Tamaqua in Class AA and Marian in Class A begin their quest for gold on Saturday in pool play action which starts at 9 a.m.If the Bears win today, they too will particpate in pool play on Saturday.The AAA pool play action takes place at Liberty, AA is at Catasauqua, while A competition will be held at Martz Hall in Pottsville. The AAA semifinals are scheduled for Monday while AA and A will play their semis on Tuesday.All three championship rounds take place on Thursday, Nov. 5.In AA, Lehighton is seeded No. 5 and Tamaqua is No. 8. They will be in Pool A with top-seeded Blue Mountain and Bethlehem Catholic.Panther Valley, seeded sixth, is in Pool B with Southern Lehigh, Saucon Valley and North Schuylkill.The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals.In A, Marian is seeded second among the six teams. Nativity is the top seed, while the other teams include Tri-Valley, Pius X, Salem Christian and Lehigh Valley Christian.Saturday's pool play will elimnate two teams with the other four advance to the semis.