WRHS, Northside volleyball let 1-0 leads slip vs. Greenbrier

Competitive volleyball wasn’t hard to find inside the Houston County High gym Saturday afternoon.

Defending area champion Greenbrier, along with Lakeside-Evans, played against the three Warner Robins schools in Area 2-AAAAA with two matches usually going on at the same time. Greenbrier dropped the first game to both the Demonettes of Warner Robins High and Northside only to bounce back and take both matches 2-1.

It was a particularly frustrating day for Warner Robins, who not only lost to the Wolfpack but also fell 2-0 to Lakeside.

Houston County High, meanwhile, continues to save its best for area play. On Sept. 17, the Bears swept the Demonettes and Northside at WRHS after a slew of non-area losses. Since that time, Houston’s record piled on more losses to the likes of East Coweta, Habersham Central and South Effingham, all at the Conyers Spikefest.

On Saturday in the home gym, the Bears trailed and trailed significantly in all three games against Lakeside. When it was over, Houston County stood on top 2-1.

Northside, just like Warner Robins, had an 0-2 day, falling to Lakeside 2-0.

From the Greenbrier-Warner Robins match, mistakes by the Wolfpack helped the Demonettes build an early 8-2 lead. Megan Hill’s play caused a net violation, for example, and Kara Walker set a kill to the back court from Kate Hill. The Hill sisters continued to smash kills making it 12-4.

Camille Bagwell substituted into the match and served an immediate ace (14-5). Greenbrier made its run with a serve landing untouched near the sideline, an ace serve that tailed right and several scoring combinations. The lead was down to 15-13.

Kate Hill’s outside hit provided a big sideout at 17-14. Serve went to Walker for an ace. Megan Hill’s block in the middle turned into another sideout at 19-16, and the Hill sisters used Walker passes for consecutive kills and 21-17. Walker and Akira Cainon made good plays with their backs to the net, and with those the game closed out at 25-20.

Greenbrier took control of Game 2, Warner Robins only drawing as close as one point, 19-18, on Megan Hill’s service ace. The Wolfpack answered with four in a row, Ebony Thomas ending that run with a slapping score (23-20).

The Demonettes faced game point at 24-20, but Walker set Cainon for the sideout, Bagwell aced a serve, and the Demonettes fought to a tied score 24-24. Keeping the volleyball alive on numerous rallies, Warner Robins wouldn’t give up a two-point lead until 27-25.

Game 3 saw a continuation of back-and-forth momentum, and Warner Robins always had the one-point edge with Tesia Walker and Cainon scoring on K. Walker sets. M. Hill converted a Walker pass to make it 11-9.

Everything then went the way of the Wolfpack in a 6-0 run that M. Hill had to end (15-12 GB). Cainon had one more kill assisted by K. Walker, but Greenbrier completed its 2-1 comeback win 25-17.

Houston County trailed Lakeside all through Game 1 until the 40th rally. At 21-21, the Bears did all the rest of the scoring to win 25-21. There would be no comeback in Game 2, the Panthers leading as much as nine, 18-9, on a string of aces and a backcourt kill. The 25-19 final leveled the match 1-1.

Lakeside led 10-4 in the deciding game until the Bears clawed their way back to 13-13. Lainey Choiniere threw an assist to Katelyn Oxendine tying things at 15-all, and then Oxendine’s outside spike put Houston up 17-16.

Both teams were winning long rallies, which put the score tied one more time 18-18. Five of the next six rallies went the way of the Bears, Hannah Caudill finishing off one of those points for 23-19. The Bears were at match point, 24-19, but Lakeside wasn’t done with two in a row.

Choiniere passed off to Caudill, who put the ball through the blocks for a 25-21 game and 2-1 match victory.

The courts then cleared for Northside’s first action against Greenbrier and both Warner Robins and Lakeside looking to put their disappointing losses behind them.

The Demonettes dominated the Panthers in a 12-4 opening run with K. Walker earning assists to M. Hill, T. Walker and Cainon while M. Hill threw in an ace.

The Panthers recovered, and with a series of hard hits the big Demonette lead shrunk down to one, 14-13. K. Walker set volleyballs time and time again looking for results, and M. Hill provided one for 16-14. She also smashed her team to a 19-17 advantage. The Demonettes went on to lead by five, 22-17, and was at game point on Cainon’s kill from a K. Walker feed (24-20).

Six rallies later, a stunned Demonette squad had to change sides on the wrong side of a 1-0 score. The Panthers won the game 26-24.

Lakeside never trailed much in Game 2, a 4-0 run stretching a 15-12 score to 19-12. The Panthers were at match point at 24-19 when Warner Robins tried a bit of payback, K. Hill scoring two kills for 24-22. That’s how close the Demonettes got, though, the match ending on the next serve.

Northside played toe-to-toe with the Wolfpack all the way to a 9-9 Game 1 tie. By winning a net battle among the big players up front, the Eagles began a streak of six in a row. Kaya McCartney’s two kills from the outside had her team in front 17-11.

It didn’t take long for the Wolfpack to regroup and surge its way to a 20-20 tie.

Sunshine Walton hit the ball four times in what was the deciding rally, and the Eagles were up 1-0 in a 25-23 game win.

Greenbrier furiously even things up in Game 2 winning 25-11.

Game 3 was much more nip-and-tuck until the Wolfpack put a streak together for 12-8. Walton won another net battle, but the Eagles gradually fell behind by 10, 21-11. Walton and Mya Palmer scored three aces to get the margin down to five, and then McCartney scored on a block for 22-18.

That was the final Northside point, Greenbrier finishing things off 2-1 at 25-18.

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