The NCS brackets have been announced and the committee elected to expand the bracket from 20 to 24 teams this year for both the boys and girls tournaments. Water polo was the first sport to be seeded after the NCS announced earlier in week that it may expand bracket sizes if there are enough qualified teams for a particular division. The only real change for water polo (besides letting four additional teams in) is that now only the top 8 seeds get first round byes. In the past the top 12 teams didn’t start playing until the second round. It also means there are eight games in each division on the first day of the playoffs rather than four. The dates remain the same with first round games beginning Wednesday.

Here’s a look at the seeds and first-round games:

GIRLS

16 Concord vs. 17 Piedmont

9 College Park vs. 24 Ukiah

13 Mission San Jose vs. 20 Ygnacio Valley

12 Northgate vs. 21 Deer Valley

15 Washington vs. 18 Alhambra

10 Miramonte vs. 23 Amador Valley

14 Clayton Valley vs. 19 Newark Memorial

11 Tamalpais vs. 22 Liberty

First round byes:

1 Monte Vista, 2 Campolindo, 3 Las Lomas, 4 San Ramon Valley, 5 Carondelet, 6 Acalanes, 7 Marin Catholic, 8 Drake.

BOYS

16 Ygnacio Valley vs. 17 Livermore

9 Foothill vs. 24 Marin Academy

13 Drake vs. 20 Irvington

12 Northgate vs. 21 Alameda

15 Clayton Valley vs. 18 Marin Catholic

10 Washington vs. 23 Freedom

14 Alhambra vs. 19 Terra Linda

11 California vs. 22 Heritage

First round byes:

1 Acalanes, 2 Miramonte, 3 De La Salle, 4 Monte Vista, 5 San Ramon Valley, 6 Campolindo, 7 Las Lomas, 8 Amador Valley.

For locations/times and a look at the rest of the brackets check out the NCS website.