RALEIGH — A comeback for the ages fell short of a storybook ending in the 2A East volleyball state championship game between No. 4 Seaforth and No. 1 McMichael Saturday.
In front of a deafening crowd at Reynolds Coliseum, Seaforth, making its first state championship appearance, fell to McMichael, 3-2, after nearly erasing a 13-5 deficit in the fifth set.
The Hawks scored seven straight points to bring McMichael’s lead down to just 13-12 in the deciding set. Following a timeout, McMichael caught a break when Seaforth senior and Sportsmanship Award recipient Kendall Anderson knocked her serve out of bounds, but sophomore Ally Forbes, who led both teams with 24 kills, made up for it with a kill to bring the Hawks back within one point.
Senior Maris Huneycutt, who played her final high school game with an illness, went back to serve with a chance to tie the set and force extra play time. However, her serve went long, fell out of bounds and took down Seaforth’s comeback efforts with it.
“We’re disappointed, of course, with the result, but we had an outstanding season,” Seaforth co-head coach Scott Green said. “I’m very, very proud of these young ladies and the effort they put forth, especially that last set. They showed that they were able to battle back when they’re down. I’m really impressed with how much heart and desire to win that they showed today.”
Seaforth got off to a good start by taking a commanding 25-17 win in the first set. Forbes and junior Keira Rosenmarkle, who finished the game with 19 kills, made the difference early as the Phoenix initially struggled to receive their powerful swings. To avoid a two-set hole, McMichael built a small advantage over the Hawks in the second set and won, 25-22, after holding off a rally from Seaforth in which it went from being down six points to tying the set at 22.
In the third set, McMichael, led by championship game MVP Jenna Rosenbaum and junior Zoey Bradford, jumped out to an 8-3 lead and kept its foot on the gas. The Phoenix got some help from multiple self-inflicted mistakes by Seaforth and expanded its lead to 15-5 before winning the set, 25-18.
Before Saturday’s game, Seaforth went 1-3 in games that it trailed, 2-1, and all three of those losses came in a four-set defeat.
But under the brightest lights all year, the Hawks didn’t let the situation faze them. Seaforth outdueled McMichael, 25-22, in a back-and-forth fourth set that witnessed seven tie scores and just one lead change in favor of the Hawks near the end.
“This whole playoff run, we’ve never given up on anything,” Huneycutt said. “We’ve lost sets, but we’ve come back and we won, and that’s kind of the mindset that we kept throughout today.”
Yet with the heartbreaking ending that came in the following set, the aforementioned record fell to 1-4, and Seaforth ended its year as state runner ups with a program-best 25-5 overall record.
For the Hawks, making it to the state final was a four-season climb, beginning with its first year of existence.
This year’s group of seniors, Seaforth’s first ever four-year senior class, won just seven games as freshmen in 2021. They quickly turned that into a 15-5 overall record the following season, including their first playoff appearance and win, and in 2023, the Hawks established themselves as state contenders with a 23-6 overall record and a deep playoff run.
“I think we have a high standard,” Seaforth co-head coach Helen May said. “I think that every year, we can improve, and it’s going to get better. With the core people and everyone, they’ve pushed each other for all four years.”
Seaforth will lose seniors Mia Kellam (led the team in digs), Anavi Smith, Cora Dodge, Huneycutt (led the team in assists) and Anderson (led the team in total blocks).
As key players exit, the Hawks still have a solid core of returners, including Abigail Valgus, her all-state sister Josie and two more all-state players in Forbes and Rosenmarkle.
Even with the possibility of Seaforth playing tougher competition in a higher classification when the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s eight-classification realignment goes into effect next year, the team is still confident that it can make its way back to the state final.
“Just because we came up short, I don’t think we lose any confidence,” Forbes said. “I hope we walk out with our heads held high. Obviously, there’s a bit of burn and loss because we didn’t come out with the outcome we wanted. But I think the confidence rolling into next season is just come back better than ever and come back here next year this time.”
