By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — In many athletic competitions, defense wins the day. That was certainly the case on Oct. 25 when Watauga volleyball survived a barrage of kill shots from an exceptionally athletic, even powerful Mallard Creek team in Round 2 of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A Volleyball Championships, at Lentz Eggers Gym.
It was a 3-0 sweep, but the margin of difference was much narrower. The set scores: 25-19, 25-21, 27-25.
In the first two sets, the teams battled evenly in the early going until Watauga would edge out to a nervous, five- and six-point lead, only to have Mallard Creek come back and tie the match. Toward the end of both sets, the Pioneers took advantage of hitting errors by the Mavericks and secure the set victories.
The third set had a personality all its own, as Mallard Creek jumped out to an 8-1 lead before the Pioneers circled their wagons and began closing the deficit, finally tying the set at 14-14. From there it was back and forth the rest of the way as the teams pushed the set into overtime where Watauga finally prevailed, 27-25.
“Mallard Creek has some tall, athletic basketball players who are becoming good volleyball players,” said Watauga senior outside hitter Caroline Farthing after the competition. “They are powerful… In that third set, I think we got complacent, thinking we had already won the match because of winning the first two sets. So we had to get ourselves back on the task at hand.”
Watauga head coach Kim Pryor said later that for a Round 2 game Mallard Creek was an exceptional opponent.
“We don’t typically see this high quality opponent in a Round 2 match,” said Pryor. “They are very aggressive, with very powerful hitters like us. This was really good for us in preparing for what is to come because they don’t get any less competitive.”
The next tournament opponent, in Round 3, will also be hosted by the No. 2-seeded Pioneers, on Thursday, Oct. 27, 6 p.m.
The Rest of the Story
What is remarkable about Watauga’s match vs. Mallard Creek is that the Oct. 25 match was a revisit of the 2021 Round 2 matchup at Lentz Eggers Gym. The Mavericks’ athleticism was clearly evident in that contest, but the volleyball skills were obviously lacking. Fast forward to 2022, and the same athleticism was there but there had been dramatic improvement in their volleyball skills, especially in digging, keeping the ball in play, and setting up their powerful outside hitters and middle blockers. In 2021, Mallard Creek lost the Round 2 match by the same 3-0 set score, but more decisively, 25-16, 25-12, 25-19.
When asked about her team’s dramatic improvement in volleyball skills over the last 12 months, Mallard Creek head coach Kimmy Kwok, who joined the Mavericks in 2020 and is an active coach in Charlotte area club volleyball, explained, “A lot of our focus in the past year has been on building team chemistry, along with skills, learning to play better together.”
SELECTED WATAUGA INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Kenzie Baldwin 16 digs, 2 assists
- Evie Robbins 12 digs
- Cam Norris 25 assists, 1 kill, 8 digs
- Faith Watson 1 kill, 1 dig
- Brooke Scheffler 19 kills, 15 assists, 3 service aces, 11 digs
- Caroline Farthing 19 kills, 1 service ace, 15 digs
- Brooklyn Stanbery 1 service ace
- Kate McCullough 2 digs
- Sara Marlowe 1 kill
- Emma Pastusic 6 kills, 1 assist
ROUND 2 SCORES
4A West, Upper Bracket
- No. 1 Reagan def. No. 16 Northwest Guilford, 3-0
- No. 8 South Iredell def. No. 9 Providence, 3-0
- No. 5 T C Roberson def. No. 12 East Forsyth, 3-1
- No. 4 Hough def. No. 13 Lake Norman, 3-1
4A West, Lower Bracket
- No. 3 Sun Valley def. No. 14 Cox Mill, 3-1
- No. 6 Ardrey Kell def. No. 11 Western Guilford, 3-0
- No. 10 Marvin Ridge def. No. 7 Grimsley, 3-1
- No. 2 Watauga def. No. 18 Mallard Creek, 3-0
4A East, Upper Bracket
- No. 1 Chapel Hill def. No. 16 Laney, 3-0
- No. 8 Cardinal Gibbons def. No. 9 Gray’s Creek, 3-0
- No. 12 Hoggard def. No. 5 Cleveland, 3-2
- No. 4 Middle Creek def. No. 13 Green Hope, 3-0
4A East, Lower Bracket
- No. 3 Pinecrest def. No. 19 New Hanover, 3-0
- No. 11 Green Level def. No. 6 D.H. Conley, 3-0
- No. 7 Ashley def. No. 10 Pine Forest, 3-0
- No. 2 Millbrook def. No. 18 Apex Friendship, 3-1
