Staff report

LANDIS — Avery Fisher had the kill that put South Point on the bus on Saturday afternoon and put South Rowan in the second round of the 3A volleyball playoffs.

In a 25-14, 25-9 and 25-18 sweep, the 11th-seeded Raiders (21-6) buried the visitors from Belmont in the first two sets and came back to win the third one.

The first round of the playoffs was a routine day at the office for South Piedmont Conference co-champ South Rowan, which has no shortage of skilled players.

Meredith Faw’s powerful serves overwhelmed 22nd-seeded South Point (12-11) at the outset of the first and second sets.

Leah Rymer, Laurel Everett, Fisher and Laney Beaver had quick kills as South Rowan took a 6-0 lead in the first set. After that, the closest South Point ever got was 10-7.

In the second set, South Rowan scored eight straight points on Faw’s serve. Faw had four aces in that onslaught. Rymer and Everett had a combo block for 8-0, and South Point had to use a timeout. South made it 10-1 on kills by Faw and Rymer, and the set was just about over. Kills by Beaver and Faw finished it.

The third set was the interesting one as South Point must have been determined to prove it was better than it looked in the second set.

South Point survived Faw’s serve and ran off five straight points to lead 5-2, prompting SR coach Jenna Horne to call a timeout.

South Rowan was down 7-3 when Avery Welch took over in the middle. She racked up three points at the net as South Rowan cut its deficit to 8-7.

Faw’s kill got South level, and Beaver had back-to-back kills for a 10-8 lead.

South Rowan led only 16-15 when South Point missed a serve. That serving error proved deadly, as it put Faw back at the service line for South Rowan. Faw had two aces and Rymer had a kill, as South Rowan surged ahead 20-15 and finished off the visitors.

Beaver and Rymer combined for 32 assists as the setters.

Rymer had 10 kills, while Faw and Welch had eight each, and Beaver had seven.

Faw had 15 digs. Campbell Withers had 13, Rymer and Beaver had eight each, and Fisher had six.

South Rowan will play at sixth-seeded Lake Norman Charter (22-2) on Tuesday.

South split with LNC during the regular season and they shared the league championship. They did not meet in the SPC tournament, as South lost a five-set match with West Rowan in the semifinals.