Tigers eliminate Patton, will play at West Wilkes for West 2A crown
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
NEWTON – Fred T. Foard High had a tiny dent put in its armor on Saturday as Patton won a set, but the Tigers prevailed 3-1 to win their way back into a West 2A volleyball title match.
After 13th-seeded Patton won 25-16 in the opening set at Foard – snapping the Tigers’ 81-set win streak – it was all Foard the rest of the way.
The Tigers won 25-20, 25-10, 25-9 to eliminate their Northwestern Foothills 2A rivals to move one win away from reaching another state championship match.
Foard has seven state volleyball titles in school history.
The Tigers (17-0), riding a 28-match win streak, play Tuesday at No. 3 West Wilkes (17-0) with a match time to be announced. West Wilkes won 3-0 on Saturday at No. 2 West Stanly.
The Tuesday winner will then go to Cary next Saturday to play the East 2A title winner, No. 9 McMichael (16-1) or No. 3 North Lenoir (12-0).
McMichael won Saturday at No. 4 Carrboro, 3-1, and North Lenoir on 3-1 at home against No. 10 Croatan.
Foard, going 32-1, defeated Ayden-Grifton 3-0 in last year’s 2A final in Fayetteville (Carrboro knocked Ayden-Grifton out in the first round this season).
Megan Dorsey, Michelle Thao, Sarah Lingle and Hailey Johnston led the victory over Patton on Saturday.
Via official statistics by Foard, Dorsey had 14 kills and 16 digs, Thao added 16 kills and 20 digs, Lingle provided 26 assists and Johnston finished with 10 digs and 21 assists.
Jasmine Foster added 10 kills and five blocks, Martina Foster had eight kills and four blocks, Lyndsey Warren made 11 digs and Averie Dale added four blocks for Foard, now 73-4 since Meredith Lombardi became head coach.
Lombardi was a freshman at Foard when the Tigers won a state title in 2005. She was head coach at Draughn for one year and came to her alma mater after three seasons as an assistant coach at South Caldwell.
The Tigers finished 24-3 in Lombardi’s first season and 32-1 last season, the lone loss coming 3-2 at home in a non-league match against Watauga in October.
Fred T. Foard 3, R-S Central 0
The Tigers knocked off the top-seeded Hilltoppers 25-15, 25-9, 25-23 in a second-round match played Thursday.
Johnston led Foard with 23 assists, six digs and three aces, Dorsey had eight kills, eight digs, three aces and two blocks and Thao provided seven kills and 18 digs.
Also for Foared, Jamianne Foster had six kills and six blocks, Martina Foster had 10 blocks and six kills and Warren notched seven digs.
R-S Central finished 13-1.
AREA SCHOOL’S RESULTS
WEST
STATE SEMIFINALS
2A
No. 8 FRED T. FOARD (17-0) at No. 3 W. Wilkes (17-0), Tuesday, time TBA
THIRD ROUND
2A
No. 8 FRED T. FOARD 3, No. 13 PATTON 1
SECOND ROUND
2A
No. 8 FRED T. FOARD 3, No. 1 R-S Central 0
No. 13 PATTON 3, No. 5 W. Stokes 0
3A
No. 1 WATAUGA 3, No. 9 W. Henderson 1
No. 4 Cox Mill 3, No. 12 HICKORY 0
4A
No. 5 Providence 3, No. 4 McDOWELL 0
FIRST ROUND
2A
No. 8 FRED T. FOARD 3, No. 9 Black Mountain Owen 0
No. 13 PATTON 3, No. 4 E. LINCOLN 1
No. 3 W. Wilkes 3, No. 14 MAIDEN 0
3A
No. 1 WATAUGA 3, No. 16 N. Henderson 0
No. 12 HICKORY 3, No. 5 Western Guilford 1
4A
No. 4 McDOWELL 3, No. 13 Butler 0
TUESDAY’S STATE SEMIFINALS
1A
East: No. 12 E. Wake Academy at No. 2 Perquimans
West: No. 2 Bishop McGuinness at No. 1 Mountain Island Charter
State final: Saturday at Cary, 6 p.m.
2A
East: No. 9 McMichael (16-1) at No. 3 N. Lenoir (12-0)
West: No. 8 FRED T. FOARD (17-0) at No. 3 W. Wilkes (17-0)
State final: Saturday at Cary, 10:30 a.m.
3A
East: No. 6 Roxboro Person (15-2) at No. 1 Greenville Conley (14-1)
West: No. 7 Asheville Roberson (16-1) at No. 4 Cox Mill (17-0)
State final: Saturday at Cary, 1 p.m.
4A
East: No. 7 Cardinal Gibbons (15-0) at No. 1 Pinecrest (17-0)
West: No. 5 Providence (17-0) at No. 2 Green Hope (13-0)
State final: Saturday at Cary, 3:30 p.m.
STATEWIDE SCORES, PAIRINGS : https://www.nchsaa.org/sports/volleyball
