MYRTLE BEACH – Seeded second in the SCISA Class 1A Volleyball playoff lower bracket, Richard Winn Academy received a bye in the first round at the Myrtle Beach Sports Center on Friday, Oct. 24.
The bye gave the Eagles a late start to the weekend as they opened play at 2:30 Friday against Curtis Baptist, which had just dominated St. Elizabeth Ann Seton 2-0 in their first match of the double-elimination tournament.
Riding the wave of their first round win, Curtis Baptist downed the Eagles 25-19 in game one. The score yo-yoed back and forth in game two with the teams trading leads until Curtis Baptist went up 20-17. Brantley Caulder served the next two points for the Eagles, narrowing the gap to one-point, but the Crusaders added a three-point cushion in their next service.
Down 23-20, Richard Winn rallied behind the service of libero Sarah Hughes, who closed out the game with the next five points (two from aces) to give the Eagles a 25-20 win and send the match into a deciding third game.
The Eagles went up 8-3 early, extending their lead as much as 18-9 before Curtis Baptist came back to tie the game at 19, then close it out 25-20 to send Richard Winn into the elimination bracket.
Facing win-or-go-home games, the Eagles sent their next three opponents packing.
They downed Malboro 2-0 (25-6 and 25-15) on Friday night, then returned on Saturday to beat top-seeded Holly Hill 2-1 (26-28, 25-19, and 25-22) and familiar region foe Wardlaw 2-0 (25-17 and 25-21).
Battling their way through the elimination bracket, the Eagles were just one opponent away from a state championship appearance, but they’d have to defeat Curtis Baptist twice to make it happen.
Richard Winn opened with a 3-0 lead behind Mary Margaret Swearingen’s serves, but Curtis Baptist quickly took the lead back and held it (19-11) until Eagle senior Abby Lewis’s serves put them within one point of the Crusaders. Lewis served six points in a row, four of them aces. Curtis Baptist responded to claim game one with a 25-21 final.
Down 1-0 in a best-of-three match, Richard Winn rallied back to win game two. Catherine Blair Spires was behind the line serving when the Eagles went up 11-5. The Eagles would carry that lead to a 25-22 final. Spires had three aces.
Richard Winn took their game two momentum straight into game three, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in with Swearingen’s service. They extended the lead 8-1 with Lewis serving, then 10-2 as Spires served. Caulder’s serves put the Eagles up 16-6, then Swearingen’s serves extended it 21-10. Spires’ serves carried it home as Richard Winn took the 25-13 and claim the match 2-1 and give Curtis Baptist their first loss of the playoffs.
With each team only having one loss in the double-elimination tournament, the Eagles and Crusaders headed back on the court for one more best-of-three match – the Eagles fifth of the day.
Curtis Baptist won the coin toss and served first, taking an early 2-0 lead, which held the lead until they extended it 11-3. Junior Alissa Monroe served the next three points for Richard Winn to narrow the lead to five. Down 15-8, Hughes served four points – three aces in a row to put the game back within reach at 15-12.
Five serves from Lewis gave Richard Winn their first lead of the game, 19-18. Curtis Baptist went back up 24-21, but Monroe served five points straight to give the Eagles a 26-24 game one win.
Richard Winn served first in game two, but the Crusaders went ahead from the start. Holding an 8-4 lead, they extended it to 10-5 before Hughes’ serves narrowed it back to two points. Swearingen served the next four points for Richard Winn to give the Eagles a one-point lead, their first of game two. Curtis Baptist went ahead 17-15, then 22-17 as the Eagles struggled to reclaim momentum. Caulder’s serves put them back in at 22-20.
Down 24-21 again, Swearingen’s serves put the Eagles ahead 25-24. Backs against the wall, Curtis Baptist took the next three points to claim the 27-25 win and send the match into a deciding game three.
Curtis Baptist went ahead 11-3 early, but the Eagles battled back to narrow the lead to 13-7, then 14-11 behind Monroe and Caulder’s serves. The Crusaders capitalized on a momentum shift and went up 23-15. Spires served the next four points to narrow the lead to 23-19, but Curtis Baptist closed out the game with a 25-19 win.
The loss ended the Eagles’ playoff run and advance Curtis Baptist to the title game, where they fell to defending state champion Cambridge Academy.
Headed by first-year coach Reagan Love, the Eagles end their season 13-7 with a SCISA Region 3 Runner-Up title under their belts.