WELDON — Competing in a tough conference can pay big dividends come state playoff time.
Prime example, the Chatham Central girl’s volleyball team.
The Lady Bears made the long trek up to Halifax County on the Virginia border on Saturday evening and swept Weldon High School 3-0 in opening round action of the NCHSAA 1A State Playoffs.
Chatham Central, which entered state play as the No. 4 seed out of the Yadkin Valley Conference, advances to take on Pender County (13-9) down in Burgaw near the border of South Carolina on Tuesday, October 29. Pender County downed Bear Grass Charter 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-9) in first round play.
In Weldon, Chatham Central fought off an athletic Weldon lineup for a 25-22 victory in game one and never looked back, taking game two 25-8 and game three 25-15.
“The first set was tight so to win it 25-22 to take an early lead was key,” said Chatham Central coach Brett Walden. “They were really athletic and had a few front row players above 6 ft. and could really jump.”
Walden was alluding to 5’10 Tecara Ashe and 6’3 Skylah Travis, both senior captains for the Lady Chargers who patrolled the net and were the main reason for Weldon compiling its gaudy 14-1 record entering the states and the top seed out of the Tar Roanoke Conference.
“Travis and Ashe got some blocks early but we went away from their height which opened things up for us more around the net,” pointed out Walden.
Tanner little had seven service aces in the second set which ignited Chatham Central out of the gates and gave the red and black the momentum which they never would relinquish.
“Tanner’s serving in the second set really helped us build that early lead which allowed us to sustain the momentum and keep the pressure on them,” continued Walden
With a 2-0 advantage heading into game three, Chatham Central started off quickly again, racing out to a 23-8 lead.
With its backs against the wall, Weldon refused to go down without a fight as Travis collected three kills and Ashe two more to spark a 7-0 run to close the gap to 23-15.
Walden called a well used timeout, made a substitution, and the Bears were able to finish off the third set out of the timeout.
Walden was pleased as well as impressed with what was a total team effort in ousting the talented Chargers from the playoffs.
“Carmen Edwards was really good pushing the ball deep, Grace Jones hit it as well as she has all year long. and it was probably Lindsay Polston’s best game of her career setting,” continued Walden. “Sets were really good for our hitters. Eliana Phillips had some solid back row play, Tanner Little passed it really well to our setter all night.
Walden was particularly impressed with senior Olivia Hudson who turned in a big game for the Bears.
“I felt like the player of the game was Olivia Hudson. Olivia got a few blocks and was very disruptive for their hitters. She hadn’t served much this year, but had to due to a couple other players struggling. Olivia did a fantastic job in what was an overall a great effort from everyone.
Hudson closed with five kills and a block while Jones added six kills , Edwards and D Maness four kills apiece with Edwards chipping in three aces and Maness a block, Johnson four aces and a kill, Polston five aces, and Phillips five aces and a kill.
Over in Clayton on Saturday, Northwood was eliminated from the NCHSAA 3A state playoffs with a 3-0 loss to Cleveland High. The Chargers dropped game one 25-11, game two 25-18, and game three 25-15 in behind swept by the Rams and closing the season at 9-16.
Cleveland was scheduled to host Fayetteville Terry Sanford (20-7) in the second round. Terry Sanford opened the state playoffs with a 3-1 triumph over Cedar Ridge.
In Louisburg, the Chatham Charter girls were downed 3-0 by Louisburg in opening round action. The Knights close a strong season at 16-12 while the Warriors advanced to host Vance Charter (19-4) on Tuesday.