Seaforth is making its first-ever regional final appearance after beating No. 1 Ayden-Grifton, 3-1, in the fourth round of the 2A volleyball playoffs Tuesday.
The four-seeded Hawks, led by strong swings from sophomore Ally Forbes and junior Keira Rosenmarkle, battled their way out of close sets to take a 2-0 lead. Seaforth fell short in the third set, 25-22, after making a late rally to tie it at 22 and potentially secure the sweep. Yet, the Hawks finished the job in the fourth set with the largest margin of victory of the night, 25-19.
Seaforth will travel to No. 3 Manteo Thursday for a chance to make the state final. Last season, the two teams met in the third round of the playoffs, and Seaforth dominated Manteo, 3-0.
From the first to the third rounds, the Hawks swept every opponent and won every set by double digits with the exception of the final set in their third round win over No. 5 Wallace-Rose Hill Saturday.
Against a Wallace-Rose Hill team that went 19-2 overall and undefeated in its conference prior to the postseason, Seaforth only allowed just 21 points across the first two sets.
Senior Maris Huneycutt recorded 13 assists in the win, including her 2,000th career assist. Junior Josie Valgus came up big for the Hawks, too, as she recorded a team-high 11 kills, five service aces and a team-high 15 assists.
Valgus also had a big night against No. 15 Farmville Central in the second round. In a closer match than what the score indicated, she recorded her 1,000th career kill while contributing nine kills in the game. Huneycutt carried the load as a setter against the Jaguars, though, pouring in 24 assists while helping provide junior Keira Rosenmarkle with a team-high 11 kills.
The first round was the definition of domination from Seaforth as the Hawks finished the first two sets by a score of 25-8.
Just up the road and across bracket lines, No. 10 Woods Charter also dominated its first round matchup with North Duplin on Oct. 22. Thanks to a career-high 43 assists from freshman Cecilia Brignati and a combined 34 kills from sophomore Annabel Unah and senior Maya Sheridan, the Wolves advanced to the second round for a rematch at No. 7 Roxboro Community.
Roxboro Community proved to be the better team over Woods Charter on Oct. 24, though. The Bulldogs beat the Wolves, 3-1, ending their 10-game sweep streak and their season for the second year in a row. Last season, Woods Charter lost to Roxboro Community in the third round of the playoffs also after losing to the Bulldogs in the regular season. Roxboro Community went 2-0 against Chatham County teams in the playoffs this year, starting with a sweep of No. 26 Chatham Charter in the first round. The Knights have still yet to advance past the first round in the state volleyball playoffs.
Further up in the 1A bracket, No. 29 Chatham Central fell to No. 4 Rosewood, 3-1, in the first round. The Bears took the first set, 25-23, and in sets three and four, Chatham Central hovered within striking distance to stay alive. In recent years, the Bears have also struggled to advance in the playoffs, failing to reach the second round since 2015. Nevertheless, Chatham Central still had a solid season highlighted by its hot start to conference play.
No. 30 Northwood, the lowest seeded squad out of the county’s playoff teams, lost to Manteo, 3-0, in the first round. As a 29 seed last season, Northwood made it all the way to the regional quarterfinals before losing to Midway also in a sweeping fashion. Unfortunately for the Chargers, that magical run just couldn’t continue into this year’s postseason.