By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Salisbury is looking for a big finish to the volleyball season.

The Hornets (13-9, 10-2) concluded the regular season with a sweep at North Rowan (2-12, 2-10).

A second-place finish in the Central Carolina Conference is one of the best volleyball seasons the Hornets ever have put together.

They have won 10 CCC games for the first time in this century.

They were CCC champs in 2014 with a 9-1 record and tied for second in 2015 — those were the two seasons when Salisbury’s Juliana Anderson was CCC Player of the Year. This is the highest conference finish for the Hornets since then.

Volleyball is one of the few sports the Hornets have not been traditionally strong in. They have struggled more often than not over the last 25 years and have had winless seasons.

Their overall record this season isn’t as good as it was in 2022 when they went 17-7, but the schedule has been tougher. The Hornets have played teams such as South Rowan and Carson this year, and while the Hornets didn’t win those county matches, they were able to compete.

Salisbury will not be an automatic qualifier for the 2A state playoffs unless the Hornets win the CCC tournament. That’s possible. The Hornets lost twice to CCC champ West Davidson, but both matches were close.

The Central Carolina Conference is a mixed 1A/2A league. West Davidson is the only automatic 2A qualifier. South Davidson finished fifth, but will be the automatic 1A qualifier from the CCC as the league’s top 1A team.

Still, the Hornets appear to be a lock to be in the 32-team 2A West bracket as an at-large team. They are currently projected by High School OT to be the No. 27 seed.

This is tournament week for volleyball.

The CCC and the South Piedmont Conference got their tournaments started on Monday.

West Davidson and South Rowan will be the host schools for semifinals on Tuesday and championship matches on Wednesday.

There’s a bit more at stake in the SPC tournament than usual, as South Rowan and Lake Norman Charter tied for first place and split their regular-season meetings.

Lake Norman Charter is seeded first for the tournament by virtue of its sweep of third-place West Rowan. South split with West Rowan.

But that’s just to seed the tournament. The league’s “1” seed for the 3A state playoffs will be determined by what happens in the tournament.  For South being the “1” or the “2” is probably going to be the difference between being seeded sixth or 10th in the playoffs.

The NCHSAA will release official playoff seeds and pairings on Thursday.

South Rowan, West Rowan and Carson are certain to be in the 3A West playoff bracket. South will be at home in the first round, and West Rowan also expects to be.

East Rowan is pretty close to the bubble for the playoffs, but also is likely to be in the 32-team bracket.

First-round playoff games are on Saturday.

The second, third and fourth rounds will take place in a hurry next week, with teams playing on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

SPC tournament schedule

Monday’s first round

at Lake Norman Charter. (5) East Rowan vs. (4) Carson, 5 p.m.

at Lake Norman Charter. (8) NW Cabarrus vs. (1) Lake Norman Charter, 6:30 p.m.

at South Rowan. (3) West Rowan vs. (6) Robinson, 5 p.m.

at South Rowan. (2) South Rowan vs. (7) Central Cabarrus, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s semifinals

at South Rowan. 4-5 winner vs. 1-8 winner, 5 p.m.

at South Rowan. 2-7 winner vs. 3-6 winner, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday’s championship

at South Rowan. Semifinal winners, 6 p.m.

 

CCC tournament schedule

Monday’s first round

(5) South Davidson at (4) East Davidson

(6) North Rowan at (3) Lexington

(7) Thomasville at (2) Salisbury

Tuesday’s semifinals

at West Davidson. 5-4 winner vs. (1) West Davidson

at West Davidson. 6-3 winner vs. 2-7 winner

Wednesday’s championship

at West Davidson: Semifinal winners