PINETOWN — Coach Michelle Leathers is used to close games in the gymnasium at Northside. She’s seen plenty of them during her near decade as the coach of the Lady Panthers basketball team.

What Leathers isn’t as accustomed to is coaching a close postseason volleyball game. She did just that on Wednesday night as Lady Panthers came out on the winning side, 3-2, in a battle with Raleigh Charter. It wasn’t pretty, but it punched their ticket to the second round of the 1-A state playoffs.

Even though she won her first playoff game as a volleyball coach, Leathers deflected all the glory to the team — especially its seniors.

“That was worse than basketball,” Leathers chuckled. “Worse, but good. Sometimes people are counting you out. I was new and they had to get used to me. … I’m just happy for the seniors. I’m happy that we can move on to the second round. It means a lot to me, especially since some of them are basketball players. They know how I feel about it. I’m going to give 100 percent. It’s a great feeling for Northside.”

Northside and Raleigh Charter split the first two sets. The Lady Panthers took the first, 25-12, before the Phoenix took the second, 25-18. Northside went on to decimate the visitors, 25-6, in the third set. Strong serving from Emori Smith coupled with the finishing touch of Rachel Lang gave the hosts a 2-1 lead, and plenty of momentum.

It looked like Northside would run away early in the fourth set. Lang picked up a pair of kills, and an ace from Sydnie Alligood gave the Lady Panthers a 4-1 lead quickly. Raleigh Charter battled back, and the set remained close throughout.

Brooklyn Hudnell had three serving aces in a short span to push Northside to a 12-8 lead, but the Phoenix didn’t let it get away. Another pair of aces by Alligood gave the Lady Panthers a 20-15 lead late in the set, but Raleigh Charter went on a 10-1 run to steal a win and force a deciding fifth set.

“I just told them we’ve got to play our game, and a lot of them said we’ve got to play our game,” Leathers said of the conversation between the fourth and fifth sets. “That’s what they did. Savannah (Slade) and Rachel, Sydnie setting it good. I had to get on the back row about making good passes. In a game like this, you’re going to make mistakes. We came together and stuck together like the family we’re trying to be at Northside and we pulled out the win.”

Despite the visitors getting the serve to start the final set, Northside was able to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Raleigh Charter came within one, 6-5, but Northside never conceded the lead.

Alligood’s tip up front gave the Lady Panthers an 11-7 lead and the serve. Slade slammed a ball hovering over the net onto the Phoenix’s side of the court, and followed it with another kill. It put the second round of the playoffs within one point, and the Lady Panthers closed it out.

Northside traveled to Wallace-Rose Hill on Thursday for second-round action. Log onto www.thewashingtondailynews.com for the latest coverage.