HobbsDailyReport.com
The five high school girls’ volleyball teams still alive in the chase of a state championship includes three from Catawba County as the tournament reaches the third round on Saturday.
Still alive from the South Fork 2A is No. 11 seed Maiden and No. 1 seed Fred T. Foard and No. 14 seed West Iredell from the Northwestern Foothills 2A are still playing.
Hickory and Watauga from the Northwestern 3A-4A remain alive in the West 3A bracket.
Saturday’s matches:
2A
No. 14 West Iredell (16-12) at No. 11 Maiden (21-5), 5 p.m.
The Warriors finished second to Fred T. Foard in the Northwestern Foothills 2A, going 10-2, and have a dozen losses because of a tough schedule playing powerful teams from their own county like North Iredell and South Iredell.
Maiden, for the second straight year, finished a game back of East Lincoln in the South Fork 2A. The Blue Devils beat the Mustangs for the conference tournament title.
The match winner reaches the fourth round on Tuesday, facing No. 18 Hendersonville (15-11) or No. 7 Mount Pleasant (21-5).
Mount Pleasant would earn a home match if it wins while Hendersonville would have to play at West Iredell or Maiden.
The regional title matches are Nov. 1 and the state title match, in Raleigh, will be on Nov. 3.
Maiden reached the third round with a 3-2 road victory on Thursday over sixth-seeded R-S Central, winning 20-25, 28-26, 25-15, 16-25, 15-10.
Lauren Xayavong had 30 digs, Faith Herman had 45 assists and 14 digs and Abbey Smith provided 19 kills and 14 digs to lead Maiden’s victory
Abby Driscoll added 11 kills and a block, Sarah Wicker had 10 kills and four blocks, Peyton McRee finished with nine digs and four aces and Natalie Lail contributed 14 digs for the Blue Devils.
No. 8 West Wilkes (20-3) at No. 1 Fred T. Foard (23-2), 6 p.m.
Foard continues pursuit of a seventh state volleyball title, taking a 16-match win streak to the floor against West Wilkes.
The Tigers won the Northwestern Foothills 2A title, going 12-0, and their two losses are to Hickory (22-3) and Watauga (24-0).
The match winner plays again Tuesday in the fourth round, facing No. 5 Forbush (23-4) or No. 4 West Davidson (23-6).
Foard remains at home as long as it keeps winning in the West bracket.
The regional title matches are Nov. 1 and the state title match, in Raleigh, will be on Nov. 3.
3A
No. 11 Hickory (22-3) at No. 3 Carson (25-3), 6 p.m.
The Red Tornadoes are the lowest seed still in contention to win the West 3A title.
Hickory’s losses are 3-2 and 3-0 to Watauga in Northwestern 3A-4A play and 3-0 to South Iredell (19-8, ousted by West 3A top seed Marvin Ridge in the second round).
Up next for the match winner is a fourth-round battle on Tuesday against No. 10 Charlotte Catholic (20-8) or No. 2 West Henderson (30-2).
If Hickory wins, it will travel to Catholic or West Henderson.
The regional title matches are Nov. 1 and the state title match, in Raleigh, will be on Nov. 3.
No. 5 McMichael (27-1) at No. 4 Watauga (24-0), 4 p.m.
The Pioneers face a team that also went 14-0 in its league to win a conference title.
Watauga won the Northwestern 3A-4A, finishing two games up on second-place Hickory and winning 3-2 and 3-0 over the Red Tornadoes. The Pioneers were down two games to none at Hickory before rallying to win.
If Watauga wins, it will be at home on Tuesday against No. 8 West Rowan or on the road to play top-seeded Marvin Ridge.
The regional title matches are Nov. 1 and the state title match, in Raleigh, will be on Nov. 3.