Fuquay-Varina sweeps Person volleyball, heads to third round for first time
A banner hangs on a wall in the Fuquay-Varina gym supporting the Bengals’ volleyball team: “JUMPGIRL: THEM GIRLS UP TO SOMETHING.”
Indeed they are. Fuquay-Varina rolled into the third round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A playoffs for what is believed to be the first time in school history with its record 20th victory, a 25-21, 25-21, 25-12 sweep of Person on Tuesday night.
“Feels really good,” Fuquay senior Morgan Sonnendecker said. “This has been a season of record-breaking.”
Bengals coach Jeff Pagel said as far as he knew, Fuquay had never advanced this far nor had it won 20 games in a season. But the Bengals (20-3), who go on the road to face Greenville’s J.H. Rose on Thursday, are far from satisfied.
“Looking at the brackets, (we thought), ‘All right, we can do third round,’” Pagel said. “After the first round and after practice (Monday), we were like, ‘We’re going all the way.’ If we play our tempo and play our pace, we’re going to be unbeatable.”
Sonnendecker and her twin sister Maddie were a big reason why Fuquay advanced. Morgan had 12 kills and nine aces, while Maddie had 10 kills. Morgan single-handedly turned the match around in Game 2 after the Rockets (12-10) went up 7-3.
She fired five consecutive aces with a powerful jump serve to give Fuquay a 10-7 lead they would not relinquish.
“As a senior, her and her sister Maddie are really stepping up on the court being the leaders that I want them to be,” Pagel said. “They’re not taking no for an answer, they’re not taking the fact that (because) we’re down that we’re just going to stay down. In the past, that’s what’s been our problem: I don’t have people helping me get that team back up.
“So for (Morgan) to step up to the serving line when we’re down and say, ‘I’m going to take control this game in my own hands,’ shoot, that’s a big, big, big change. And it’s big for our program.”
Only a service error stopped Sonnendecker’s streak.
“I honestly wish I didn’t miss,” Sonnendecker said. “The streak ended because I missed my serve. I wish I didn’t so I could see how far I could get.
“That was a game changer in the second game. If we didn’t get that back, I don’t know if we would’ve been able to win the second game.”
Person played well in the first two games, using an effective block to keep the Sonnendeckers in check.
“We knew we needed to keep the ball away from certain players,” Person coach Amanda Ramirez said. “To do that was to serve aggressive and to make sure that our block was on and pressing. The blocking game was very exceptional. Toward the end, I feel like we just lost some of our steam.”
Fuquay found a way to offset the block, notably by Nora Smith’s tips. Smith, the Fuquay setter, had seven kills – three by tips.
“Nora is our most consistent player,” Pagel said. “She’s probably the most consistent player I’ve ever coached. On defense, she’s always getting balls that not a lot of people can get. Setting, she runs the offense, and she runs a nice quicker offense on the outside, which throws other teams for a loop.
“But then she’s also a hitter and can be a weapon for us in the back row. She’s really the glue that holds us all together.”
Person was a middle-of-the-pack team in the PAC-6, losing six of seven games late in the season. But the Rockets rallied, sweeping West Johnston in the first round. Person played well at times against Fuquay, but didn’t the weapons to match the Bengals.
“We started off the season strong, and then we had a spell where we had a lot of sick girls,” Person coach Amanda Ramirez said. “Coming back from that, we had a couple losses that were really crucial. But after some practices and a couple matches where we played really tough, right here at the end of the season, we were playing very well as a team.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2015 at 9:38 PM with the headline "Fuquay-Varina sweeps Person volleyball, heads to third round for first time."