CHAPEL HILL — East Chapel Hill thwarted multiple Seaforth comeback attempts to complete its own come-from-behind rally and win the non-conference volleyball showdown, 3-1, on Oct. 2.
The Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead after pulling away late in a back-and-forth opening set, but a flat start to the second period quickly flipped the game’s momentum, leading to Seaforth’s third loss of the year.
While East Chapel Hill took a 9-3 advantage over Seaforth in the second set, the Hawks held their hands up and conversed with each other as miscommunication caused balls to fall into the gaps on their side of the net.
“We play well, but we need to overcommunicate on everything and make sure we’re watching what’s going on on the other of the other side and calling that,” Seaforth coach Helen May, who took over head coaching duties on Sept. 30, said.
Seaforth responded with a 7-5 run capped off by a kill from junior setter Josie Valgus to bring itself back within four points. But from there, the teams continued to play a game of cat and mouse in which the Hawks just couldn’t string together enough consecutive points to take control of the set.
East Chapel Hill senior Lucy Linh Murphy, who recorded a team-high 14 kills, was a big part of keeping the Wildcats on top as she constantly scored points when her team needed them most.
“They were continuing to be aggressive on us,” May said. “Shout out to Lucy Linh Murphy. She had a lot of great shots, and she was using everything that’s in her arsenal. I think we have to be quicker to adapt and quicker to transition to things.”
Following a Seaforth timeout at which it trailed, 17-12, East Chapel Hill extended its lead to seven and closed the deal with a 25-19 victory.
The Hawks didn’t take as big as a first punch in the third set, even taking a 5-3 lead early on after one of the three blocks from junior outside hitter Keira Rosenmarkle. But a late-set surge from the Wildcats gave them a 25-20 win and put Seaforth in a situation it hasn’t been in many times this year.
Before the game, Seaforth was 0-2 in games it trailed 2-1 after three sets, taking losses to 4A opponents Apex Friendship and Chapel Hill in that situation.
Tasked with taking down 4A East Chapel Hill in a do or die set, Seaforth once again fell behind early in the fourth period.
The Hawks trailed 12-7 at the beginning of the set, but they went on another run to tie the score at 16 following a kill from Rosenmarkle, who finished the night with a team-high 15 kills.
The set ended up being tied twice more, but the Hawks’ comeback efforts just couldn’t fully flip the script. Down 22-20, Seaforth called another timeout before a final shot to stay alive.
“I did raise my voice a little bit, but I was just trying to tell them that we are a better team than this, and we can’t just let balls drop with no one going after it,” May said. “It goes back to trusting the person next to us. If we play our positions and play how we know how to play, then we’re golden, but if we just kind of lose sight of that, then we struggle a little bit.”
Despite the spirited message from May, Seaforth dropped the set, 25-20, and took its third loss of the season.
The Hawks moved to 3-3 against non-conference opponents and 1-2 in their all-time series with East Chapel Hill.
As Seaforth gets ready for the start of what it hopes to be another deep playoff run next week, the team will now be led by former assistant May. Former coach Scott Green remains with the team as an assistant.
“As a coaching staff, we all decided that we want to maximize all of our abilities, so that was just the change we made as a staff and as a program,” May said.
As of Sunday, Seaforth is fifth in the 2A East RPI standings, getting a boost from the non-conference matchups against tougher competition.
