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Emma Dutka had 11 kills and April Delecanal made 10 on Thursday night as Bandys High rallied on the road to nip Maiden 3-2 and tighten the race for second place in South Fork 2A volleyball.
The Blue Devils won the opening set 25-22 and Bandys won the second set 26-24 before Maiden went up two sets to one with a 25-20 victory.
The Trojans — also getting five kills by Toriy Culliver — then won 25-23, 15-10 to avenge a 3-0 loss to the Blue Devils on the first league playing date on Aug. 28.
Abbey Smith led Maiden with 21 kills, Nichole Hutchinson added 13, Faith Herman had 49 assists and Lauren Xayvaong made 32 digs.
By winning, Bandys improved to 5-3 in the conference and pulled within a match of the Blue Devils, who are 6-2 in the conference and two matches back of league-leading East Lincoln.
South Fork 2A play continues on Tuesday when Lake Norman Charter visits Maiden for a 6 p.m. match and Bandys is at home at 6 p.m. to face Newton-Conover.
St. Stephens 3, West Caldwell 0
Kenley Killian had three aces among her 27 serves and added 20 assists as the Indians won a Northwestern 3A-4A match 25-6, 25-10, 25-11 over the visiting Warriors.
Rachel Merrill had nine kills, Rylee Upton and Kendall Setzer had four each and Mack Fairchild added three for St. Stephens (7-7, 4-4), which won its third straight conference battle.
Grace Brennan had three aces for the Indians, who play Saturday at Bunker Hill in a tri-match with the Bears and South Iredell (10 a.m. start).
On Monday, the Indians return to league play with a home match (6 p.m.) against Alexander Central.
West Caldwell goes to Freedom for a 6 p.m. league match on Monday.
East Lincoln 3, Lake Norman Charter 1
The Mustangs won 25-13, 25-22, 18-25, 25-22 on the road to continue atop the South Fork 2A standings at 8-0.
Hannah Cowles led Lake Norman Charter – 8-5 overall and 4-4 in the league and in fourth place — with 11 kills and two blocks while Pearce Augier provided eight kills, five blocks and five digs.
Also for the Knights, Liberty Harris had six kills, two digs and two aces, Lauren Leeper had 21 assists and four aces, Abby Hunt added 21 assists and Hope Curtis finished with 30 digs.
East Lincoln is at home Tuesday night at 6 p.m., facing Lincolnton, while Lake Norman Charter has a league game the same night (6 p.m.) at home against North Lincoln.
Hope Curtis led the defense with 30 digs. The Lady Knights are now 8-5 overall and 4-4 in conference. They are back in action Tuesday as they host North Lincoln.
JUNIOR VARSITY FOOTBALL
St. Stephens 33, Freedom 22
The visiting Indians (4-0, 2-0) held Freedom scoreless in the second half to remain undefeated.
Sophomore running back Zak McLauchlin ran 20 times for 128 yards and three scores to spark St. Stephens.
Sophomore quarterback Gavin Marley completed six of eight passes for 94 yards for the Indians, hitting sophomore tight end Zane McPherson twice for 51 yards and sophomore wide receiver Troy Hicks three times for 32 yards.
The Indians were led defensively by inside linebacker Mason Buff, a sophomore, with seven tackles and two assists. Freshman linebacker Tony Rangel added a team-high eight tackles.
McLauchlin had a key defensive score for St. Stephens, returning an interception 35 yards for a TD.
Freedom dropped to 2-1, 0-1 and will play a league game next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Hickory.
The Indians go for a 5-0 start when they face McDowell next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at St. Stephens.
Bandys 16, Maiden 14
The Trojans nipped the Blue Devils by two points at Maiden in a South Fork 2A battle, improving to 4-0, 1-0.
No other game details were available.
Bandys also has wins over Fred T. Foard, Bunker Hill and Hickory and is at home next Thursday at 7:30 p.m. for a league game against Newton-Conover.
Maiden (2-2, 0-1) goes to West Lincoln for a 7:30 p.m. conference game next Thursday.
BOYS SOCCER
Hickory 1, Watauga 0
Hector Diaz scored on an assist by Ben Boston as the Red Tornadoes (6-2-4, 3-1-0) won at home to pull into a share of first place in the Northwestern 3A-4A with Alexander Central and South Caldwell.
Harrison Boston was in goal for a shutout for Hickory.
On Wednesday night, West Caldwell nipped Hickory in Lenoir 2-1 with Brayden Rowland scoring for the Red Tornadoes on an assist by Aydan Kelly.
The HHS junior varsity is 9-0, 4-0 after beating West Caldwell 4-0 on Wednesday night and Watauga 3-0 on Thursday night.
Hickory meets South Caldwell in a league match Monday at 6 p.m. in Hickory while Watauga, 2-2-0 in the league and sharing fourth place with West Caldwell, plays a league match on Monday (6 p.m.) at McDowell.
CROSS COUNTRY
Hickory boys, Bandys girls win county titles (Wednesday)
Hickory’s boys and Bandyts’ girls won titles at the Catawba County Championships.
The Red Tornadoes scored 49 points to finish ahead of St. Stephens (52), snapping the Indians’ streak of four straight county crowns.
Bandys had 37 points to finish well ahead of second-place Maiden (75) in the girls’ race.
St. Stephens’ Dalton McGlamery won the boys’ title in 17 minutes, 45.38 seconds while Sarah Faith McAllister, a senior, repeated as girls’ champ for Bandys in 20:54.78.
CATAWBA COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
BOYS
Team scores: 1. Hickory 49; 2. St. Stephens 52; 3. Fred T. Foard 74; 4. Bunker Hill 105; 5. Maiden 132; 6. Bandys 155; 7. University Christian 168; 8. Hickory Christian 198.
Top finishes: 1. Dalton McGlamery (SS) 17:45.38; 2. Chase Johnson (H) 18:13.17; 3. Ben Trimm (FTF) 18:44.96; 4, Tyler Christensen (SS) 19:07. 37); 5. Nicholas Nelson (H) 19:20.50.
GIRLS
Team scores: 1. Bandys 37; 2. Maiden 75; 3. Fred T. Foard 84; 4. Hickory 85; 5. St. Stephens 103; 6. Bunker Hill 114.
Top finishes: 1. Sarah Faith McAllister (B) 20:54.78; 2. Karina Coulter (FTF) 21:41.94; 3. Rachel Morris (M) 23:02.22; 4. Lauren Buckminster (B) 23;26.09; 5. Chloe Fountain (FTF) 23:34.70.