Saints earn playoff birth

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 14, 2008 1:50 PM

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Forget what's at stake, just play.

County archrivals Eastern Wayne and Southern Wayne heard those words from their respective coaches before taking the volleyball court Monday evening. But the teams knew the winner would earn a berth to the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.

Well ... the Saints are moving on.

Shanica Kelly delivered a match-high nine kills and two blocks as Southern Wayne prevailed 25-23, 25-23, 25-19 in the opening-round, Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference tournament. The fifth-seeded Saints (4-13 overall) travel to regular-season, co-champion Wilson Hunt today.

The Warriors, ECC champions in 2006 and 2007, concluded the season 3-14 overall.

"I'm just disappointed for the girls," said Eastern Wayne head coach Steve Gregorcyk. "They were trying really hard ... scraping with them the whole way. A couple of mistakes here and there ... was a close match."

The fourth-seeded Warriors grabbed a three-point lead in the opening set on Caitlin Turner's kill off Miranda Smith's assist. The Saints moved in front 10-9 on Kelly's kill and eventually stretched the advantage to 18-13 when Melissa Ewers served an ace.

Turner converted three consecutive kills to pull the Warriors within 20-19. An attack error gave the Saints the sideout. Kelly's ace and Clarice Sherard's off-speed shot off Stephanie Bellefeuille's assist pushed the lead to 23-19.

Eastern Wayne climbed within 24-23, but Sherard closed out the set with a solo block against Ewers.

"Today we played our game with sets inside-outside, keeping them guessing as to where it was going," said Southern Wayne head coach Eric Durol. "As far as the hits were concerned, outside and middle was working beautifully and it all came off the pass. The setters were able to get the ball up."

The teams battled through eight ties and five lead changes in the second set. The Saints grabbed a working margin at 20-17 on Kelly's off-speed kill. Turner (seven kills) smacked a shot down the line off Andy Macias' assist to close the gap to 20-19.

Three ties later, Ewers dropped in a deep pass between two Warrior backline players. Sherard, again, ended the set with a solo block against Ewers.

In the third set, the teams fed off each other's mistakes. The Saints owned a 4-1 edge in kills and 6-5 advantage in aces. Unforced errors and attack miscues factored into the outcome, especially late for the Warriors.

Trailing 19-17, Eastern Wayne gave up three of the next four points on either passing or attack errors. Southern Wayne scored the final three points on the Warriors' serve error, a double-hit violation and Morgan Davis' match-clinching ace.

"I told them whoever wins today, goes to states Saturday," said Durol. "That's all I said. If you girls want it, you'll play. If you don't, there's really nothing to talk about.

"We went right after them."

Southern Wayne seized its third consecutive postseason berth, while Eastern Wayne had its four-year streak of playoff appearances snapped.