Northside volleyball tops PCA in first five-set match of season, third-ever meeting

Published 12:53 pm Tuesday, October 1, 2024

By Jason O. Boyd

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YEATESVILLE, N.C. – Let’s do this again soon.

Northside and Pungo Christian’s volleyball teams battled through a five-set thriller on Monday that even pop legend Michael Jackson could appreciate. In just the third meeting ever, Northside pulled out a 25-21, 23-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-12 victory.

It wrapped up a 12-day stretch against some of the toughest teams the Panthers (13-2) will play this season, going 3-1 in that stretch.

“Yeah, they gave us a big challenge, and number seven (Raylee Lynch), I believe, that was a hitter they had,” Northside coach Michelle Leathers said. “And on the defense, they were able to get some of our balls. And yeah, we needed that (challenge), we needed that.”

Pungo Christian made it to the NCISAA Class 1-A state finals last year, losing to Albemarle in five sets. The Raiders (9-8) have played a tough schedule but did the same thing last season before putting together a run that led them to within points of winning a state title.

Matches like Monday’s slugfest – even though it was a loss – could be just what the Raiders need to show them how good they can be.

“It was a really fun game, we’re always excited to play a local school,” said Pungo coach Kelly Rouse, who was an assistant on last year’s team. “We know the girls from church, from community, and so it’s really fun to be out here playing friends, and at the same time, we’re always playing to win.

“So I’m super proud of my girls, and we did everything that we could.”

Each time Northside tried to pull away, Pungo Christian would pull back into it, leading several times during the match. Two long returns by the Raiders helped Northside close out the first set.

Lynch, Anna Stoop, Julia Rouse and others came up big for Pungo in the second set but Northside kept it close. Two mistakes by the Panthers with the score tied at 23 gave Pungo the second-set win and new life.

The back-and-forth action continued as the Panthers secured its most comfortable set, 25-15, in the third. But Pungo came back and forced a deciding fifth set with a 25-19 decision in the fourth.

In the fifth set, Northside trailed by as much as 10-6 before marching back. Madison Scheffler, who provided big hits and blocks at net for Northside, got three of the last points on soft returns that found the open spots on Pungo’s side of the floor to wrap up the win.

“I think today it was just like – it’s kind of a mess because we didn’t have everyone in the normal spot,” Scheffler said. “And so with that, it kind of threw us off. But we figured it out after a while. We tried to kind of get better together.”

“Madison was doing the same thing, and then she got finesse,” Leathers said. “It was really something to kind of watch a power hitter kind of tap in and find the right spot at the right time.”

Both teams returned to league play and, before long, will move to conference tournament and state playoff action. It’s hard to believe the 2.5-hour match won’t help both teams down the line.

“We have a tough conference right now, so we’re looking at a tough tournament, but we want to keep going as far as we can,” Rouse said. “And if we keep playing like we have today, that’s our best chance, when we’re playing well and we’re finishing well at the end of the season.

“And I’m so proud of the girls. That’s the goal is to keep playing well.”

 

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