From staff reports

GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan volleyball coach Sandy Lytton groaned when the playoff pairings were released on Sunday. South Rowan coach Jenna Horne probably groaned even louder.

East, seeded 15th, and South, seeded 18th, collided again in Tuesday’s first round of the 3A state playoffs.

East (21-9) beat South (15-10) for the third time, but not without some sweat. Officially, it was 3 to 1 — 25-23, 22-25, 25-14 and 25-18.

“South is good and it’s tough beating a good team a third time,” Lytton said.

Lytton praised basically her entire roster. It took all of them, the tall ones, the small ones and the medium-sized ones.

How many assists did Jacee Eudy have for the Mustangs?

“A zillion,” Lytton estimated.

A zillion assists would be a world record by a lot. Lytton is expected to reduce that total a bit after she gets a chance to sit down and watch the film, but Eudy had a super game, on defense as well as setting.

Jordan Dry was “amazing and all over the place,” Lytton added.

Nothing new there. Dry had 20-plus digs, and she is the most aggressive Mustang on serve-receive. If she can reach it, she wants it. Never afraid.

East’s big hitters socked it. That’s what they do. Cameron Ostle and Alli Corl are a tough matchup for South. Ostle had 21 kills. Corl had 16 kills and five aces.

East has more height and a lot of them chipped in. Leigan Lusk had six kills and two blocks. Kady Collins had four kills. Ella Lowry had three kills and a block.

Madalynn Tigert had three kills and lot of digs. Brooklyn Buck served two aces. Kierstin Eagle and Seeley Adams subbed in on the front row and contributed kills.

South’s strength is digging. Horne’s stat sheet showed a ton of them — 26 by Campbell Withers, 18 by Avery Fisher and Meghan Eagle, 16 by Raegan Shell, 15 by Meredith Faw and 11 by Danica Krieg.

Laney Beaver led in kills with nine. Faw had six.

Shell had 14 assists, while Eagle had 13.

East’s reward is a trip to Olin to play No. 2 seed North Iredell.

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CHINA GROVE — Fifth-seeded Carson got a scare in the first round of the 3A state playoffs and went to five sets before topping 28th-seeded Crest.

The Cougars (26-5) made more errors than usual, and the Chargers (10-19) were better than anyone expected them to be.

Carson won 25-19, 22-25, 25-14, 20-25 and 15-12. It was tense.

Carson will host No. 12 seed Hickory in the second round on Thursday.

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WENWORTH — West Rowan finished fifth in the South Piedmont Conference, but the 25th-seeded Falcons beat a conference champ in Tuesday’s first round of the 3A playoffs.

West won 25-22, 25-18, 22-25 and 25-12 at eighth-seeded Rockingham County (22-4) for rookie coach Tiffany Brooks’ first playoff win.

The first set was tied 22-all, when Sophia Blackledge smashed a key kill for the Falcons. Then back-to-back aces by Ella Doby won the set. Getting that first set on the road was huge.

A kill by Skyy Ruben gave the Falcons a 24-15 lead in the second set, and they held off a late surge by the home team. West scored set point on a missed serve.

Rockingham County came back to take the third set, but the Falcons (11-11) took control early in the fourth set and regained momentum.

The bouncy Ruben won many battles in the middle and had kills for West’s final two points of the night.

West plays at 24th-seeded East Lincoln on Thursday.

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DAVIDSON — Salisbury’s volleyball season ended on Tuesday when the Hornets were swept by Community School of Davidson in the first round of the 2A state playoffs.

Seeded 26th, the Hornets (13-9) didn’t have any answers for the seventh-seeded Spartans (22-4).

The Spartans rolled 25-8, 25-13 and 25-8.

Ashley Yang had 11 assists and 10 digs. Ava Morris had five kills. Addie Myers had eight digs, while Dayami Acevedo had six.

Salisbury had a senior-heavy team and will have to rebuild in 2025.