Somehow, we still have a month before Daylight Savings Time ends (wasn't that supposed to be a summer thing?), but the weather finally is turning a little bit and the fall is moving along quite rapidly.

Know what that means? Don't look now, but the postseason for fall sports begins in exactly eight days with the South Sequoia League tennis championships next Tuesday and Thursday at Shafter.

SSL golf championships are next Wednesday, Oct. 22, at Arvin. Cross country league championships are Oct. 30 at Hart Park. A little later, volleyball and football playoffs start Nov. 11 and Nov. 21, respectively.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the goings-on in each non-football sport this fall (I figure we cover football enough the other six days of the week, so we'll skip that for now).

VOLLEYBALL
Liberty competes in Division I in most sports, but volleyball had not been one of them until this year. Good timing on the move. The Patriots are rolling through local competition, having defeated Stockdale, Centennial, Bakersfield Christian and Garces among just about everyone else they've faced (they're 19-6 with only one loss, to Sanger, within the Central Section).
Meanwhile, Centennial shook off a slow non-league season and has started 5-0 in the Southwest Yosemite League, with victories against fellow contenders Frontier and Stockdale included. The Titans and Mustangs, both 4-1 in the league, meet Tuesday at Stockdale.
Garces is the main challenger to Liberty in the Southeast Yosemite League, unless Bakersfield can mount a challenge to defend its title. Garces (4-1) beat the Drillers 3-2 in the league opener but was swept at Liberty last week; BHS (4-1) travels to Liberty on Wednesday.
As for the South Sequoia League, Bakersfield Christian, which has designs on a lot more than a league title, will face Tehachapi, 25-2 itself, on the mountain tomorrow evening. It might be the only chance an SSL team has at beating BCHS.

GIRLS TENNIS
Before the postseason, the biggest local event in tennis is the Lewis Cup, held last weekend. In the top flight, Bakersfield Christian showed that size of the school means nothing in an individualized sport. That's especially true when you have the Cooke sisters, Lyndsay and Chelby, who easily could meet in the Central Section singles final. The Eagles beat Stockdale 4-2, beat Liberty 5-1 and also handled Garces, Clovis and Clovis West in the weekend round-robin tournament at Stockdale. I got somewhat of a consensus from talking to area coaches that the Cookes and defending champ Gabrielle Gatewood of Visalia-Redwood are the three best players in the section, hands down. Other singles contenders from Kern County include Liberty's Estefania Limpias and Stockdale's Frances Ellison, though they both lost 6-0, 6-0 decisions to Lyndsay Cooke on Friday.
On a team level, I don't know that anyone will win a single match off BCHS in the Division V bracket. If you're looking for a bit more drama, Stockdale is hardly a shoo-in for its sixth straight Division I title. Clovis-Buchanan, Fresno-Bullard and perhaps Liberty are prime challengers. Garces will have to battle Redwood in Division II.

CROSS COUNTRY
The Chris Schwartz show rolls on. The Foothill senior remained unbeaten in races on the season last weekend at the Clovis Invitational, where he was pushed like he hasn't been this season. Clovis' Jonathan Sanchez, who has been second to Schwartz in plenty of races, and Zack Torres of La Crescenta-Crescenta Valley pushed Schwartz to the finish, but he beat them each by a second with a personal-best 15:09. Torres was second and Sanchez third, though they finished with the same time in a race that featured 10 (10!) runners with times better than 15:20. Like Schwartz, McFarland is dominating team competition. I think we'd have some disappointed running fans in Kern County if Schwartz and McFarland didn't bring home a state title each from Fresno in late November.
On the girls side, Ridgeview is the class of the county, but it remains to be seen if the Wolf Pack can compete in a bigtime meet. RHS was 51st in the Clovis meet (which is a state-encompassing, big deal) and could be a threat in the section. The team is led by Tijerra Lynch, Jessica Huizar and Ashley Duran, who all finished in the 30s at Clovis.

GIRLS GOLF
Four friends make up the top tier of individual golfers in Kern: Liberty's Deidre Crabtree, Stockdale's Tammy Park and Garces' Cassie Clayton and Mica Guzman. They've all had their moments this year, and I'd expect them to continue to do so as the regular season winds down and into the postseason.
On a team level, Garces clearly has more depth than just about anyone around (and that might mean the entire section). The Rams, I was told last week, have their eyes on what would be the school's first-ever Division I Central Section title. To get it, they'll have to go to Clovis West's home course Nov. 3 and take it.

Back to football Tuesday evening with a shaken-up version of the Central Section rankings.