4A state playoffs-volleyball
Leesville Road 3 Hoggard 2
(23-25, 25-18, 25-16, 28-30, 15-11)
Hoggard’s run through the 4A state tournament came to an end Tuesday in a 3-2 loss to Leesville Road. The Lady Vikings had won four straight road games to get into the regional round for the second consecutive year.
After coming back from six points down in game one, Hoggard was able even the score. The Vikings ran off three unanswered points to win game one 25-23. The big hitters for the CAP-8 conference champions put Leesville in front with wins in sets two and three. The Vikings’ resilience was on display one last time this season in set four as coach Ron Strickland’s club stopped four match points to eventually tie the match two sets apiece.
Leesville was too much to handle after jumping out to a 12-7 lead in set five and closed out the win 15-10.
“It was a great match between two very even teams,” said Strickland. “Our blocking forced Leesville to change up their hitting, but our offense sputtered at times, relying on tips and pushes too often.”
Senior Montgomery Register had nine blocks and libero Courtney Tartar had 24 digs. The Vikings were led offensively by Elly Cosgrove with 12 kills, while Register added 11 kills. Alyssa Zupan also picked up nine kills. Cassidy Stephenson had eight kills, and Ellen Tootoo had five kills and four blocks.
Hoggard knocked off two No. 1 seeds and two No. 2 seeds in the playoffs to finish the season 20-7 as runner-up in the Eastern Finals. Leesville Road will compete for the 4A state title game Saturday against the regional champion out of the West, Ardrey Kell.
“We give it our all and I’m proud that we came together as a team over the last few weeks of the season to leave everything on the court,” said Strickland.
Stats-Hoggard, Alyssa Zupan, nine kills, two aces, three blocks, seven digs; Angie Papach, four kills, two blocks, three digs, one assist; Elly Cosgrove, 12 kills, one block, six digs; Cassidy Stephenson, eight kills, one aces, two blocks, nine digs; Montgomery Register, 11 kills, one ace, nine blocks, 14 digs, one assist; Courtney Tartar, 24 digs, three assists; McKenzie Bongiorno, 14 digs; Shelly Saito, one aces, six digs, 21 assists; Ellen Tootoo, five kills, three digs, four blocks, 18 assists.
4A state playoffs-soccer
New Hanover 3 Smithfield-Selma 0
New Hanover jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Up one goal in the first half, Smithfield seemed to gain some momentum as each club traded possession. Matt Johnson scored his second goal of the night in the first few minutes of the second half and Ricardo Olivares put the match away late to close out the 3-0 win.
“I thought Smithfield played a good match. They gave it all they could, but we stayed tough and pulled out the win. Ricardo [Olivares] gave us a big lift of the bench in the second half with a goal and an assist,” New Hanover Coach T.J. Rennie said.
New Hanover (13-6-2) will take on the winner of the Pineforest/Garner match. If Garner gets the win, New Hanover will travel for the second round. But if Pineforest can pick up the victory, the Wildcats would host another home game, which would be played on Saturday.
Goals– NHHS, Matt Johnson (Richard Yakubu); Matt Johnson (Ricardo Olivares); Ricardo Olivares
Wednesday’s schedule-soccer
A number of first-round matches in the state playoffs were moved from Tuesday to Wednesday. Here’s this afternoon’s schedule in boys soccer:
4A Laney 14-4-1 (Mideastern) at West Johnston (Greater Neuse River); Hoggard 10-8-1 (Mideastern) at Jack Britt 18-4-2 (Mid-South)
3A South Brunswick 11-5-1 (Waccamaw) vs. Southern Wayne 10-7-3 (Eastern Carolina) 6 p.m.; West Brunswick 11-9-2 (Waccamaw) vs. Herford 3-13-1 (Northeastern Coastal)
2A North Brunswick (Waccamaw) 15-5-1 vs. East Duplin (East Central) 10-12-1* 4 p.m. kickoff; Topsail (East Central) 11-6-4 vs. Ern Randolph (Mid-state) 4-6-2
