By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Visiting Alexander Central may well have upset the North Carolina 4A playoffs apple cart with a win over heavily favored Watauga on Oct. 15 at Lentz Eggers Gym, 3-1 (17-25, 28-26, 25-21, 25-19).
BONUS PHOTOS at bottom of article. Click any image for Slide Show Mode
The host Pioneers defeated the Cougars in Taylorsville, 3-0, on Sept. 16, but the roles and outcome were reversed in the latest encounter. Watauga took the first set and at times looked to have control in the second before the wheels seemingly came off and allowed Alexander Central to fight back for an all but unlikely overtime set win at 28-26.
Hitting errors and serve receive errors plagued the Pioneers throughout the night but especially in the third and fourth sets. Down by more than 10 points in the final set, Watauga finally started to gel and battled back fiercely to make the loss more respectable, but could not overcome the large early deficit.
With the win over Watauga, Alexander Central has reeled off five straight Northwestern Conference victories since a Sept. 18 loss at South Caldwell. In the interim, they have defeated Hibriten (Sept. 23, 3-1), Freedom (Sept. 25, 3-0), South Caldwell (Oct. 9, 3-1), Hibriten (Oct. 10, 3-1) and now Watauga.
The Cougars are led by junior outside hitter Hallie Harrington, freshman outside hitter Reagan Pierce, senior middle blocker, Emily Haas, and junior setter Makayla Williams.
“First, I have to give credit to Alexander Central because they played an incredible game,” Watauga head coach Kim Pryor said afterwards, in opening her post-match remarks. “They have some great athletes who stepped in and played very, very well.”
The veteran Pioneer head coach acknowledged her team’s inconsistencies.
“We played up and down,” Pryor admitted. “We got huge leads and let them go, giving Alexander Central the opportunity to finish that. It is kind of a picture of what we have been through for the past couple of weeks, up and down, having to stop and then restart in the middle of our season. Those can’t be excuses for us. We have to use the adversity, including this loss, to spur us on and into the playoffs.”
Speaking to the fourth set rally that came up just a little bit short, Pryor had nothing but praise for her charges.
“This is a resilient (group of players),” Pryor said. “Again, I can’t tell you how proud I am of what they have endured, the mentality of having to start up practice again, not having everybody here in the gym, yet. It has been hard, but it can’t be an excuse. We have to be tougher and we will be as we move forward. Life can hit you hard. We just have to make the most of it in the time we have together on the court.”
Classes are still not in session after Hurricane Helene ravaged through the western North Carolina mountains. Watauga High School principal Scott Strickland advised High Country Sports that the school district is still awaiting clearance from the North Carolina Department of Transportation to operate school buses on the roads around the county, because of the damage to so many streets, roads and highways.
Watauga has one more regular season volleyball match before a probable invitation to compete in the North Carolina 4A playoffs. That will be Thursday, Oct. 17, vs. conference rival Ashe County. The Pioneers were swept by the Huskies on Sept. 25, in West Jefferson. Now 8-8 overall, 5-2 in Northwestern Conference play, the young and rebuilding Watauga side will be looking for a measure of revenge against Ashe County (17-1, 7-0).
Currently, all three Northwestern Conference 4A teams are ranked among the top 32 in North Carolina’s 4A West, according to MaxPreps, with potential to earn a playoff spot: Watauga (No. 18), Alexander Central (No. 24) and South Caldwell (No. 32).
SELECTED WATAUGA STATS VS. ALEXANDER CENTRAL
- Emma Pastusic – 18 kills, 2 stuff blocks, five service aces, 18 digs
- Grace Twillery – 16 kills, 3 service aces, 1 dig
- Lainey Gragg – 42 assists, 12 digs
- Lilli Combs – 15 digs
- Caroline Childers – 20 digs, 1 kill, 2 assists
- Kora Knight – 4 kills, 2 stuff blocks
- Hadleigh Windish – 5 kills, 1 assist, 2 digs
- Grace Phelps – 3 kills
- Addison Parker – 4 digs, 1 service ace, 1 assist
- Kaitlyn Darner – 5 digs
- Ashlyn Smith – 1 kill, 1 dig
BONUS PHOTOS
