Staff report

LANDIS — Senior Anna Rymer’s 23rd kill of the night sent South Rowan’s volleyball team to the second round of the 2A state playoffs.

Tenth-seeded South Point tried everything, but middle hitter Rymer, who also had 15 digs, was able to lead seventh-seeded South Rowan to a 25-10, 25-12 and 25-22 victory.

“They couldn’t stop Anna,” South Rowan coach Jenna Horne said. “They tried one blocker, two blockers and then three blockers, but she was still able to place the ball. She was very smart and stayed very aggressive.”

South Rowan’s back row people were led by junior libero Payton Black, who had 34 digs.

“Payton is always good, but she was exceptionally strong tonight,” Horne said. “She was all over the place, diving everywhere.”

South Rowan (15-1) had a pretty easy time in the first two sets, but South Point (10-3) made things exciting in the third one.

“We let up some, I think,” Horne said. “We had a lot more unforced errors in the third set. Anna was on the back row a lot more in the third set.”

It was back and forth for a while, but Rymer won the key points.

“Anna was great, but it’s always a team win and we played very well as a team,” Horne said. “In the conference tournament championship against Central Davidson, they had a girl who competed evenly with Anna at the net, but our other girls were better than theirs. I’m really proud of this team and how it’s come together.”

Leah Rymer had 23 assists, five kills and 10 digs and had a kill that ended the second set. Cameron Black had 32 digs. Kendall Rockstad had five kills.

Second-seeded West Stanly (10-0) beat Central Davidson in five sets on Tuesday.

South Rowan will travel to West Stanly on Thursday. South Rowan is undefeated against 2A teams this season.