The O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball Red Conference playoffs begin today under a new "modified double-elimination" format.

First-round action is set for 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at McKinley and Pearl City. At McKinley, East No. 5 seed Roosevelt will play West No. 4 Radford at 6, followed by East No. 3 McKinley vs. West No. 6 Wai'anae at 7:30 p.m.

At Pearl City, West No. 5 Campbell will play East No. 4 Farrington at 6, followed by West No. 3 Pearl City vs. East No. 6 Kalaheo at 7:30.

Tonight's losers will be eliminated, and the winners will advance to Tuesday's quarterfinals.

In a change from previous years, however, a team that loses in the quarterfinals can still work its way back to the championship match if it wins four straight matches in the losers' bracket. If the team that goes undefeated in the winners' bracket loses in the championship match, the two teams will play a winner-take-all 25-point set immediately afterward to determine the league title.

OIA volleyball coordinator Neal Takamori said part of the reason for the change is to "protect" top seeds from being eliminated from title contention if they have one bad match.

In the past, a team could go 12-0 in regular season play but be eliminated in its first playoff match.

"It's a way of assuring the No. 1 seeds a chance to come back from a bad match," Takamori said. "We had been in discussion about for a while, because it's happened in other sports (No. 1 seeds getting eliminated early)."