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Tigers fall short against defending state champions

Photo by James Nix

North Iredell's Brooke Redmond (14) and Haley Rhyne (4) block a shot by Mount Pleasant's Jocelyn Parnell during the second round NCHSAA 3A playoff game in Mount Pleasant Tuesday night.

By Steve Winzenread | Independent Tribune

Published: October 27, 2009

MOUNT PLEASANT — If you want to know how good the North Iredell volleyball team is, look at the score of their playoff game at Mount Pleasant.

The defending state champion Raiders won 25-13, 25-14, 25-19 against the top seed from the South Piedmont 3A Conference.

North, on the other hand, is the No. 2 seed from the North Piedmont, which indicates how tough the top teams are in the NPC.

"That's a very good team, a very strong team defensively and offensively," said Mount Pleasant coach Michelle Barrett, who has coached teams to more than 300 career victories. "It's a good program. They were picking up anything and everything.

"I know our score didn't always reflect it, but I thought our kids played hard. I don't think we had a lot of hitting errors. I thought we were just hitting hard at that ball. We struggled passing. We had a few service errors. But I thought we played hard, I really did."

North Iredell (21-4) fell behind 3-0 in game one before Amy Shelton served for eight straight points and a 9-3 lead.

"We came out in the first game and we were pretty solid offensively and defensively," said Raiders coach Natalie Tribble. "In the second game our offense was on, but we weren't covering our blocks and our hitting as well as we can.

"I felt like Mount Pleasant was pretty strong offensively. But I noticed that they were struggling a little bit passing so I talked about moving serve, placing serve, serving a little more aggressively and I think that worked in our favor.

"One thing that we've tried to be consistent about is just maintaining our level of play throughout the game instead of kind of playing up and down. I thought that we did that pretty well tonight."

West Iredell, the top seed from the NPC, beat Jay M. Robinson in four games in the first round of the NCHSAA playoffs and swept Hickory Ridge in the second round on Tuesday.

Tribble said she couldn't speak for the strength of the NPC as a whole, but "for my girls, I think it's a sport that they're very passionate about. They come in the gym. They work hard. Even though they have fun, they're serious about their play."

Mount Pleasant completed a 16-6 season, continuing the Tigers' winning volleyball tradition.

Despite having 2A enrollment in a 3A league, the Tigers were regular-season co-champions.

"I really don't know that (the season) could have been any better," Barrett said. "I really don't. They worked hard. They're very deserving of the co-championship with Hickory Ridge. It was an incredibly tough conference. It left a lot of very memorable games.

"We were as prepared as we could be coming in facing a team like that as far as the competition we've played and what we've seen all through the season."

For the Tigers on Tuesday, Rebecca Love had 11 digs and 4 kills, Elizabeth Widenhouse 12 digs, Samantha Kuenzli 14 assists, Jocelyn Parnell 4 kills and Katie Suther 4 kills.

Mount Pleasant loses six seniors, including Kuenzli, Love and Parnell.