Millbrook volleyball, looking to make one final playoff push, downs Enloe
Between sets, the Millbrook volleyball players never took a seat. Instead, they gathered in a circle, held hands and did what could have been mistaken for some sort of dance routine.
The players never stopped moving their feet, almost simulating movements like they were still on the court, not wanting to lose the momentum from one set to the next.
That gesture is the perfect metaphor for what the Wildcats need to do if they want to sneak into the N.C. High School Athletic Association postseason.
Millbrook came one step closer after a 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-15) Cap-8 win over the Enloe Eagles (7-11, 2-9 Cap-8) on Thursday night. The Wildcats (9-11, 4-7) ended a three-game losing streak, and with three games remaining, appear to be on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs.
Winning out could change that for the fifth-placed Millbrook. The Wildcats have to road matches at Wake Forest and an undefeated Broughton and finish with Wakefield.
If the win out, the can finish at .500 and possibly grab one of the last playoff spots out of the conference.
“I’m hoping,” Millbrook coach Julee Dickens said. “If we can have a strong finish to the season. We still have a few games left. We’ve been competitive all season. We’ve had key losses that have hurt us.”
The injury bug has also caused problems for Dickens and her crew. Millbrook still isn’t fully healed and have a lot of Wildcats playing out of position. Megan Alvey, usually a setter, is playing libero because of an ankle injury that has affected her ability to jump.
“We don’t have a really in-depth team,” Dickens said. “But we’ve been competitive … it’s just been hard to pull off a win.”
Other players have been pulled out of their normal positions as well. Dickens said they’ve been playing through it, and that’s the way they will have to close out the last few games of the regular season.
All three, Dickens said, are must-wins.
The Wildcats defeated the Wolverines, 3-2, on Sept. 24. They won at Wake Forest, 3-0, on Sept. 26, so those matches are winnable. The true test, however, is the trip to league-leading Broughton on Oct. 15.
“Broughton hasn’t hardly lost a set all season,” Dickens said of the Capitals, who have allowed one set this year. “They’re going to be our toughest competitor. All season with Cap-8 you face difficulty. It’s just a tough conference.”
Dickens said there is no point in talking about the playoffs with her team right now. She would much rather focus on what stands before it. The win over Enloe was the first step in the right direction.
With four seniors on the roster, Dickens knows they realize what’s in front of them, as well as what it’s going to take to get an extra game at the end of their career. But again, she doesn’t want to bring that up just yet.
“I don’t think that they’ve ever lost that,” Dickens said about her team’s goal of reaching the playoffs. “There’s that potential. I’m more of stay the course, do your job right here right now, tonight. The rest will come.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 12:35 AM with the headline "Millbrook volleyball, looking to make one final playoff push, downs Enloe."