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In must-win situation, Statesville rallies to down South Rowan in five
Regan Hill
Shameka Harvey sends the ball over the net in Statesville's 3-2 win over South Rowan on Tuesday.
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Published: October 14, 2009
With its back against the wall Tuesday, Statesville came out swinging and defeated South Rowan 3-2 (25-23, 17-25, 16-25, 25-16, 18-16) in a heart-stopping match to remain in the thick of the North Piedmont Conference 3A playoff race.
Knowing a loss would eliminate them from playoff contention, the Greyhounds (5-6 NPC) gave maximum effort and used a total team effort to defeat the Raiders (4-7 NPC).
The Hounds started quickly by winning game one, but were overwhelmed in games two and three by the dominating net play of South's Kayla Morrow, who sent one shot after another rocketing to the floor.
The Raiders had all the momentum after the third game, but when Statesville took the floor for game four, the Greyhounds were a team on a mission.
"After we lost the third game, we had that glazed-over look," Statesville coach Denise Hayes said. "I told them that all year long they had talked about making it to the playoffs and now was the time to step up and show that this was what they really wanted."
Leading the way once again were senior standouts Joni Henderson and Janitsha Williams.
With Statesville down 15-14 in the fifth set and on the verge of playoff elimination, Williams (12 kills, seven digs) gave the Greyhounds new life when she soared high and delivered a spectacular spike to tie the score.
"That's the best I've ever hit in a game," Williams said. "We wanted this real bad. We wanted to make sure we didn't leave anything on the court."
Henderson (15 kills, 13 digs) had two consecutive spikes in the deciding fifth game when the Greyhounds were down 8-6. She also had a highlight reel kill when the score was knotted at 15 to give Statesville the lead.
Roneisha Wilkins played a key role as well, using her power serve to net 11 points, with most of them coming in the final two games.
Statesville concludes regular season play on Thursday by hosting West Iredell, followed by the conference tournament next week.
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