Cedar Ridge, Carrboro volleyball end great years in state semifinals

In a volleyball match, a team usually doesn’t have to battle the elements.

Tuesday night might have been an exception.

Inside a packed, sultry Red Wolves Gymnasium, the Asheboro Blue Comets stormed to the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3A Eastern Regional Championship by defeating Cedar Ridge 3-1.

No. 1-seeded Cedar Ridge (24-4) and No. 2 Asheboro (25-3) both entered the match riding 17-game winning streaks, having gone undefeated in their respective conferences.

The Blue Comets’ six seniors, including leading attacker Ballie Gordon and middle blocker Gilliam Foscue, made the biggest difference in front of a standing-room-only crowd in Hillsborough.

“It’s hard to get over the hoopla – the crowd, the photographers and the newspaper reporters,” said Cedar Ridge coach Charlie Oakley, who had two seniors on his roster. “They handled it better than we did. We came out nervous. Asheboro is a great team, and they deal with it.”

On a night where the humidity in the gym was intense, players continually had to change balls because of too much moisture.

Cedar Ridge had a season-high 23 attacking errors. Meg Anderson finished with 12 kills, while Asha Barnes had 11. Lily Henry finished with 19 assists.

Each set in Asheboro’s win – on scores of 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, and 25-23 – came down to the wire.

Though the games were close, the Blue Comets took a 2-0 lead in sets, winning the first on a kill by Salem Davidson. It was the first time the Red Wolves had dropped a set since Oct. 8 against Chapel Hill.

In the second set, Cedar Ridge led 23-21 before Blue Comets junior Destinee Goldston served four straight points to take the game, ending with consecutive kills from Davidson and Ballie Gordon.

Cedar Ridge earned the third set after a kill by Kayla Robinette off an assist from Henry.

The final set featured 13 ties and eight lead changes. Cedar Ridge led 22-21 before the Blue Comets earned the serve for the last time on a kill by Jasmine Gaines. Again, Goldston was the one who served the Comets to victory, earning the last three points, the final one coming when the Red Wolves had a set error trying to return Goldston’s serve.

Vikings thwart Carrboro in rematch of 2014’s semifinal

A couple of more shots, a tip over the net, an opponent’s serve sailing out of bounds. A small of number of different points and No. 1-seeded Carrboro might have been playing in this weekend’s N.C. High School Athletic Association 2A championship game.

Instead, it was No. 2 seeded South Granville (29-3) returning to the NCHSAA championship final to play West No. 2 Wheatmore (25-1). (See nchsaa.org for results.)

Playing Tuesday in a rematch of last year’s 2A NCHSAA East Region final at Jaguar Gym, South Granville’s balance proved too much for Carrboro. Viking senior setter Annie Predddy handed out 50 assists. Megan Fuhr had 14 kills, Jenna Pitzer had 13 and Sarah Dickerson had 11.

Carrboro (27-3) had won its regular-season meeting with South Granville, 3-2.

With their state semifinal match tied at 2-2, the Jaguars led 7-1 in the decisive fifth set. But South Granville prevailed 25-22, 25-22, 17-25, 21-25, 15-11, and earning a second consecutive spot in the state championship game.

“In the first two games we missed a lot of serves,” Carrboro coach Steve Scanga said. “That was a product of nerves.”

The Vikings ended the first set on a 9-2 run, taking advantage when Carrboro’s star player, North Carolina recruit Destiny Cox, subbed out. A similar thing happened in the second, as South Granville went on a 10-3 run to tie the set at 16-all before going on to win.

“She’s awesome. When she’s back row, you know you have to take advantage, you know you have to get the ball down,” Preddy said.

Carrboro corrected some things in the third and fourth sets, as Scanga’s team pulled even.

Momentum belonged to the Jaguars before Cox (14 kills, six blocks) moved to the back row for a serve. Without her block at the net, the Vikings got their kills in, going from down 7-1 to up 12-8.

The Jaguars’ Fiona McGuire finished her last high school game with seven kills and eight blocks.

“Every one of these girls played their hearts out,” Scanga said. “A couple of balls go a different way, we come out winners.”

Preddy, who has more than 2,000 assists over the last two seasons, kept her calm against the Jaguars, even when the Vikings trailed in the fifth set.

“My dad always said ‘To win a hot game, you have to have a cool head,’” Preddy said.

“There’s not many kids as mature at that age to be able to do that on a consistent, every day, every game basis,” South Granville coach Christy Fitzgerald said. “I don’t worry about my setter’s position, ever.”

J. Mike Blake of the N&O contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 10:00 PM with the headline "Cedar Ridge, Carrboro volleyball end great years in state semifinals."