HobbsDailyReport.com
KINSTON – Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC) is playing this weekend for a national women’s volleyball tournament bid.
The Red Hawks are at the Region X/District O tournament at Lenoir Community College, entering the event having won 26 of their last 29 matches.
HUDSON
CVCC, which has won eight straight district titles, has not lost back-to-back matches since Sept. 8.
Top-seeded CVCC defeated eighth-seeded Lenoir Community College 3-0 on Friday, improving to 31-9 (http://www.region10sports.com/sports/wvball/2018-19/boxscores/20181102_wieo.xml)
The tournament semifinals begin Saturday at 10 a.m., matching CVCC against fourth-seeded Pitt Community College. At noon, No. 2 Surry Community College faces No. 3 Walters State, with the title match 30 minutes after the second semifinal match ends.
In a press release on Thursday, CVCC head coach Shannon Hudson said she feels her team is peaking at the right time.
“I think we’ve grown tremendously over the season,” Hudson said. “Of course with so many freshmen, it’s a huge learning curve that they’ve had to overcome.
“I think confidence was a big issue at the beginning of the season because we were so young. They were learning so many new things. They didn’t quite trust our system yet, and they didn’t quite trust each other.
“I would say that over the past few weeks we have just kind of figured things out and grown together a lot. They are trusting each other more.
“They have played a lot of games together so they are getting more and more comfortable with each other every day. I think we are looking really strong going into the tournament.”
Freshman Emma Clark, a middle hitter with a team-best 313 kills and 166 blocks going into Friday’s play, leads the Red Hawks.
“Emma is definitely a superstar, and she doesn’t realize it,” Hudson said in the press release. “She is so strong. She looks really good out there. She can do lots of different things.
“Offensively, she leads in kills almost every game. She can put up a big block. She is getting a couple of aces for us per match.
“She is kind of that all-around dynamic player that every coach dreams of. We are really pleased with how she’s been playing.”
Freshman middle hitter Sage Harrington is second in kills (249 before Friday) and third in blocks (128) while sophomore libero Emily Williams had a team-high 658 digs before Friday and was second all-time at CVCC with 1,379.
CVCC went unbeaten in Region X and has a 124-match conference win streak.
“I think our girls are confident, but we don’t want to look past these matches,” Hudson said in the press release of the weekend tournament. “We are preparing hard for the teams that we are going to play. We know that we have to take it one match at a time. Nothing is going to be given to us.
“We’ve got to go in there ready to start off strong and play hard all the way through the last match. Our goal for this week is to stay focused, stay positive and work together so that we can accomplish this goal that we set at the beginning of the year.”
Three wins by the Red Hawks on Friday and Saturday would mean an eighth national tournament berth and their first trip since 2016.
“It’s a great experience for the girls,” Hudson said of nationals. “It’s a lot of fun. There are top teams up there obviously. It’s nice to get to go and see what that’s like. It’s a great experience. I think we can do well this year.
“With such a young group that we have this year, we’ll have all of our hitters returning next year. All of our hitters this year are freshmen, which is crazy.
“I think it’d be great to get to go, get that experience and build on that for next year. I’m not saying this team couldn’t go and win it all, but I still think it would be great to have that stepping stone for next year’s sophomore class.”
REGION X/DISTRICT P TOURNAMENT
(Friday, Saturday at Lenoir Community College)
Friday’s quarterfinals
Game 1: No. 4 Pitt CC 4, No. 5 Louisburg 2
Game 2: No. 1 CVCC 3, No. 8 Lenoir CC 0
Game 3: No. 2 Surry CC 3, No. 7 Cape Fear 1
Game 4: No. 3 Walters State 3, No. 6 Wake Tech 1
Saturday’s matches
Game 5: No. 4 Pitt CC (18-5) vs. No. 1 CVCC (31-9), semifinal, 10 a.m.
Game 6: No. 2 Surry CC (20-4) vs. No. 3 Walters State (21-8), semifinal, noon
Game 7: Semifinal winners, championship, 30 minutes after second semifinal completed
- Pre-tournament information reported by CVCC Sports Information