More than just hoops: Basketball legends leading the way on volleyball court

Published 12:43 am Thursday, September 12, 2024

By Jason O. Boyd

YEATESVILLE, N.C. – It was a unique volleyball meeting at Northside High School on Tuesday for several reasons.

Northside and Southside started Coastal Plains Conference play with the Panthers pulling out a 25-14, 25-16, 25-12 win. The match also marked the end of the non-conference portion of the season for both programs.

Probably the most unique thing about Tuesday’s play was who was coaching the squads. Michelle Leathers, who has been the Northside volleyball coach for nearly a decade, and new Southside coach Misty Mooring squared off for the first time in that sport.

Leathers and Mooring are regarded as two of the top women’s basketball players in Northside High School and Beaufort County history. While volleyball was part of both coach’s athletic routine while they were in school, it might have been hard to believe either of them would be doing anything else but basketball later in life.

Yet both Leathers and Mooring are doing just that, along with leading the girls’ basketball programs at their respective schools.

“For a conference opener, you have no trouble getting a team motivated,” Mooring said. “I feel like my girls showed up, and they did what they could do to the best of their ability.

“And for me, coming back to Northside’s always a little bit like, I feel like I should just warm up and stretch, feels like what I should be here. Lots of familiar faces, and you wanna do well, but you want it for your team.”

“So I have been truly blessed to be able to be successful,” said Leathers, who has led the Panthers to the state playoffs every year she’s been the coach. “So there’s a lot of good reasons to get a win today. It was, like I said, kind of a meeting of the past basketball success.

“Opening up conference play, stuff like that. Kind of a little bit of everything that you got from something like this. (The Panthers) faced a little bit of adversity and overcame that, too.”

Northside (8-1, 1-0) started slow in the first set as Southside (2-9, 0-1) led 7-5 early. The Panthers eventually took the lead at 10-9, forcing Mooring to call time. Northside stretched that lead to 19-13 before winning the set.

Both teams traded points and momentum in the second and third sets before Northside’s strong front line and serving took control each time.

“They got some big hits, I mean, great hits,” Mooring said of Northside’s play. “So I thought my girls did as well as, I thought we were right there trying to get a hand on it. But not enough, not enough, we just fell short.

“You always hope to pull closer and closer until you get that W. But we’re ready for the moment. We’ve put in a lot of hard work. We played a lot of big schools early on and just come up short a few times. So we didn’t back down, I didn’t see them give up.”
Leathers said the challenges the Seahawks presented Tuesday was just what her team needed. Outside of a loss at Bear Grass Academy, the Panthers have played solid volleyball through the first part of the season.

A match like this can only make the Panthers stronger, she said.

“And that’s what some of us were doing, trying to find what they did better, what we need to do, like I said, adjustment,” Leathers said. “And we were on offense. So I told them I expect for them to make a run as well.

“It’s just part of the game, like you said, momentum. And we were able to pull it out.”

Til they meet again.

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Photos: Northside vs. North Duplin_08.30.2024

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