North Raleigh Christian shines in ‘Volley with the Knights’ tournament

As far as tune-ups are concerned, they don’t get much better or more competitive than the “Volley with the Knights” tournament hosted by North Raleigh Christian Academy.

The two-day, volleyball get-together brought 17 squads from the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association ranks for a round-robin set of games on Friday and a winner-take-all tournament on Saturday.

The defending NCISAA 3A state champion Knights breezed through the first three rounds of play, then struggled a bit with Cannon School out of Fayetteville before claiming their second straight crown in the 17th edition of the Knights’ annual tournament with a 26-24, 25-17 victory.

“Our tournament is to get us ready for states,” NRCA coach Chris Murray said. “You get teams from all over the state, and it’s a great prep for us and for all the other teams.”

It was a sentiment held by every coach in attendance.

“You come here for the competition,” Wake Christian coach Malcolm Deans said.

NRCA: Trailing 14-12 in the first set against Cannon, senior libero Kincey Smith made a diving, one-handed dig off a spike by Celeste Hall that staved off the point and directly led to a kill by Lauren Janok.

Two points later, NRCA took its first lead of the match on an error and never trailed again.

“You can feel those moments,” Smith said. “When momentum shifts, you never know what it’s going to be. It can be the ugliest of plays, but when it happens, you know.”

OAKWOOD SCHOOL: The Eagles out of Greenville came into the weekend a little undermanned, having lost two middle hitters, but coach Tom Marsh came away excited by how his team responded and grew.

“We came here to get better and to improve,” he said. “And we accomplished that.”

A shuffled lineup and some moxie went a long way, Marsh added.

“I’ll tell you what, we placed second in a tournament earlier in the season, but I’d much rather come here and play top teams and get beat and learn from it than that. And we played them all close.”

CARY ACADEMY: For Cary Academy coach Ashley Shade, the biggest thing she hopes her team takes away from Saturday’s games is confidence.

“We came in looking to play competitively,” she said. “And we have done that and more.”

A chance to go up against the best teams in the state is always a great thing before heading into conference play. CA only played on Saturday.

“We wanted to work on the intangibles,” she said. “Supporting each other and coming together when we struggle. … We have seen that we play much better when we play better competition. Seeing how we compete, with skills improving is always a good thing.”

RAVENSCROFT: Ravens coach Elizabeth Ledford was pleased when her team got to play a bunch of Charlotte-based schools during Friday’s round-robin.

“It really helps us prepare for our ultimate goal, states,” she said. “And we competed well and got better.”

She wasn’t as pleased with her squad’s Saturday performances.

“We see our defense is our weak spot, for sure,” she said. “We now know we have to work on blocking and digging. The competition serves as a way to show your weaknesses.”

WAKE CHRISTIAN: Deans saw his squad go to a third set twice on Saturday, losing both.

Against SouthLake Christian, his Bulldogs were sharp and battled back before eventually losing. In match No. 3 of the day, a three-set defeat at the hands of Charlotte’s Providence Day School, it was the opposite.

“There were moments where we show we can compete with the vast majority of teams,” Deans said. “And there were moments where our mental toughness was exposed.”

That will be the focus heading into conference play.

“We have a good group,” he said. “They know mental toughness has to get stronger for us to reach our goals.”

DURHAM ACADEMY: Last year, the Cavaliers finished dead last in the 16-team field. That came two years removed from being in the title match.

Coach Heidi Kearnan was hopeful her squad would fall somewhere in between this time around.

“And that’s about where we are,” she said. “We came in having to work around some injuries, and we are still looking to figure out some things, to get clarification at specific spots.”

After the matches, Kearnan said she is fairly confident those spots have been filled.

“Our setters, our libero are now solidified,” she said. “It’s why we come to this tournament. You want to see who steps up and who comes into their own. Leaving, we have a clear view of what we are trying to do.”

This story was originally published September 11, 2016 at 9:02 AM with the headline "North Raleigh Christian shines in ‘Volley with the Knights’ tournament."