Lady Highlanders finish conference season undefeated, beat East Wilkes to move on in NCHSAA State Playoffs
Photo by Christopher Smith/Staff HHS seniors Reese Schmitt and Brandy Zegal lift the conference trophies.
The Highlands School Lady Highlanders varsity volleyball team is not only the Little Smoky Mountain Conference Champs, but they are also working their way through the NCHSAA State Playoff brackets after defeating East Wilkes High School on Saturday in straight sets.
HHS vs. Blue Ridge:
The Highlands School Lady Highlanders varsity volleyball team and the Blue Ridge Early College Lady Bobcat’s varsity volleyball team faced off in the Little Smoky Mountain Conference tournament Wednesday, Oct. 20, with the Lady Highlanders taking the trophy home after a 25-22, 25-16, 25-20 win.
First Set:
Julia Schmitt started things off for the Lady Highlanders with a tip over the net. India Clark had two good serves to make it 3-0.
Two balls in the net and a spike that was hit out of bounds made the game even at 3-3.
Ava Schmitt had a huge hit to regain the lead for HHS, but Mercedes McLaughlin had a big block to tie it up again at 4-4.
Another tip by Ava Schmitt got the Lady Highlanders up 6-4, but a big kill by Mahalah Stewart brought BREC back to a one-point game.
Emma Minton and Clark increased the lead for the Lady Highlanders with some big hits and a hit in the net by BREC made it 9-5.
Rebecca Watson had some big kills on the next point, but Reese Schmitt was there to block for the Lady Highlanders. Watson didn’t give up and killed again to cut the Lady Highlander lead down to 9-6.
On the next point, Watson had another kill, but Reese Schmitt made a diving save to keep the point alive. Ava Schmitt followed up with a kill, but it was blocked by Stewart. Minton tipped the ball over the net to seal the point away and put the Lady Highlanders up 10-7.
Clark had another big kill for HHS to increase the lead 11-8.
Two big serves by Reese Schmitt made the game 13-8, then a big kill from Ava Schmitt, a good serve by Clark and a kill by BREC’s Watson made it 16-9.
BREC started to get a second wind in the first set, with a block, a hit out from the Lady Highlanders and a big serve by Isabella Moody to cut the HHS lead to 16-14.
Ava Schmitt followed up with a big kill, Julia Schmitt had a big block and Minton had a tip over the net to increase the lead 19-15.
Mahalah Stewart answered for BREC to make it 19-16, followed by a missed kill from the Lady Highlanders to make it a two-point game at 19-17.
A combined block by Ava Schmitt and Minton got the Lady Highlanders to 20-17, but a kill by Watson brought it to 20-18.
A serve in the net from BREC and a hit out of bounds got the Lady Highlanders to 22-18, but BREC did not give up. An error from the Lady Highlanders and a serve from Stewart got the Lady Bobcats to 22-20.
A serve out and a big serve from Reese Schmitt made it set point for the first set at 24-20.
Julia Schmitt ended the set with a big hit to end the first set, 25-22.
Second Set:
India Clark got things going in the second set for the Lady Highlanders, but Watson answered right away to tie things up at 1-1.
McLaughlin had a block for the Lady Bobcats to take the lead 2-1, but a hit out tied it back up at 2-2. A little back and forth from the teams ended with the ball being hit out by the Lady Highlanders to make it 3-2 with BREC leading.
A serving battle went back and forth between the two teams until the Lady Highlanders found a rhythm, with Clark having a big kill to go up 10-6.
Watson answered right away to cut the lead to a three-point game, 10-7.
A tip from Clark, a spike from Julia Schmitt, a hit out and a serve in the net caused the Lady Highlanders to go up 15-9.
Ava Schmitt and Minton were able to get the next two points to make it 17-9.
Ashlynn Wilson had two big serves to increase the Lady Highlander lead 19-9.
A kill by Watson and McLaughlin got the Lady Bobcats to 19-10, but a block by Minton got the Lady Highlanders to 20-10.
Ava Schmitt had a tip over the net to earn a point, but Mahalah Stewart had a kill to make it 21-11.
A hit out and a kill by Watson got the Lady Bobcats to 21-13, but a hit out by BREC made it 22-13.
A block by Mahalah Stewart cut the lead to 22-14, but Minton had another kill to make it 23-14.
A hit by Brandy Zegal made it set point for the Lady Highlanders and a missed hit by BREC ended the set 25-16.
Third Set:
The Lady Highlanders came out strong in the third set, going up 6-0, before a hit by McLaughlin got the Lady Bobcats on the board, 6-1.
A block by McLaughlin and a hit out made it 6-3.
A bump by Ava Schmitt that went untouchable increased the Lady Highlander lead 7-3, but a hit in the net made it 7-5.
A big block by Julia Schmitt and a lot of back and forth got the Lady Highlanders up 8-5.
After a few hits in the net and out of bounds, Ava Schmitt had a big kill and Ezra Branham had a spike to make it 10-8.
A tip over by Ashlynn Wilson and a kill and tip by Clark increased the Lady Highlander lead to 13-8, but Watson answered with a kill to make it 13-9.
A hit in the net by BREC, a push over and tip by Clark and a tip by Watson made it 16-10.
Watson had a hard kill to cut the lead 16-11, but Julia Schmitt had a block to make it 17-11.
Holly Foss had to good serves for the Lady Bobcats to make it 17-14 and then a hit out of bounds caused the Lady Highlanders to take a timeout.
A kill by Julia Schmitt and a missed hit made it 19-16, before Ava Schmitt and Branham made it 21-16.
BREC’s Watson went on a hot streak, earning three points for the Lady Bobcats to make it 21-19, causing HHS to take a timeout.
A serve out and an error made it 23-19, before Watson had another kill to make it 23-20.
Two kills by Clark sealed the championship victory for the Lady Highlanders, 25-20.
“During the first set, I was pretty nervous because it was so close,” HHS head coach Desiray Schmitt said. “In the second one, we got ahead pretty strong. They came back a little, but we stayed strong. The third one was a little too close, as well. Whenever you’re in the third set, you just want it to be done and over with if you have already won two. The girls did really well, and I do like it when they have to compete, instead of it being a blowout. It’s way more fun to watch and coach. Going into the State Playoffs, we need to be a little more on our toes. A lot of times, we get caught watching and I’m sure whoever we play is quick at the net like most people. So, we need to be quick on our toes and make sure we are communicating.”
With the win, the Lady Highlanders finished regular season conference champions with a perfect 6-0 conference record and Little Smoky Mountain Conference Tournament Champions.
The Lady Bobcats ended their season with a record of 6-9, losing in the first round of the NCHSAA State Playoffs on Saturday to Murphy, 3-0.
HHS vs. East Wilkes:
The Highlands School Lady Highlander’s varsity volleyball team got another “W” in the first round of the NCHSAA State Playoffs against East Wilkes High School, 25-9, 25-16 and 25-17.
First Set:
The Lady Highlanders started off strong on Saturday against the Lady Cardinals, going up 14-0 before giving up a point.
The Lady Cardinals scored again off a good serve, but Julia Schmitt answered right back with a good spike to make it 15-2.
A hit in the net and a good block by Minton made it 18-4. A bump by Ashlynn Wilson increased HHS’ lead to 19-4, and Minton followed up again to make it 20-4.
A good serve by Ava Schmitt made it 21-4, but a good corner hit by EWHS cut the lead 21-5.
Clark finished things off for the first set by hitting a good kill, followed by a couple out of bounds hits by EWHS and a good serve, 25-9.
Second Set:
EWHS got on the board first going up 2-0, but a bump from Brandy Zegal and a tip from Julia Schmitt tied the game up at 2-2.
A serve in the net got the Lady Cardinals up 3-2, but a spike from Julia Schmitt tied it back up at 3-3.
A hit out and a spike from EWHS got them up 5-3, but then a hit in the net and a spike from Ava Schmitt made it 5-5.
After a hit in the net, a good serve from EWHS and a Lady Cardinal spike, EWHS was up 10-7, forcing a time out from the Lady Highlanders.
After the timeout, the two teams traded spikes making it 11-9, EWHS still up, but a tip from Ezra Branham and a good serve from Reese Schmitt tied it 11-11.
A serve out from EWHS and a hit out of bounds turned the tables in favor of the Lady Highlanders, who were now up 13-12.
Ava Schmitt had a big spike alongside Julia Schmitt, who had a spike and a good block, making it 16-13.
Julia Schmitt had another big spike to make it 18-14, followed by another spike by Ava Schmitt to make it 19-14.
Julia Schmitt had a good serve to get the Lady Highlanders to 20-14, then Ashlynn Wilson followed up with a push over the net to make it 21-14.
Minton had a big block to make it 22-14, before the Lady Cardinals scored again to make it 22-15.
Ezra Branham had a good hit followed by two by Clark to finish the second set at 25-16.
Third Set:
Clark opened the third set with a good serve to go up 1-0, but the Lady Highlanders fell behind again, 1-3.
Julia Schmitt had a big spike and after a good bit of back and forth between the two teams, EWHS hit the ball in the net to tie it up at 3-3.
Ashlynn Wilson had three great serves back-to-back, followed by a kill by Ava Schmitt to make it 7-3, before EWHS had another spike to cut the Lady Highlander lead 7-4.
Julia Schmitt answered with a spike of her own, followed by a good serve and Ezra Branham had a good hit to make it 11-4.
After several out of bounds hits by EWHS, the Lady Highlanders were sitting at 15-7, when Ezra Branham had another hit to make it 16-7.
India Clark had two big kills to increase the HHS score 18-7, before EWHS had to call a time out.
After the timeout, Reese Schmitt had a great serve to make it 19-8.
Julia Schmitt followed with a good tip over the net, followed by a kill by Ava Schmitt to increase the lead to 21-12.
Julia Schmitt had another good hit, again followed by Ava Schmitt with a kill, to increase the lead to 23-17, with India Clark finishing off the game with a kill, 25-17.
“I really think the girls played to my expectation today,” Head coach Desiray Schmitt said. “They came out really strong. I think we came out and played like we had beat them already, which always works in our favor. During the second set, I got a little nervous, because sometimes, after winning the first set, we tend to get a little comfortable. I was afraid we were getting a little too comfortable, but luckily we pulled back out.”
On Tuesday, the Lady Highlanders played Rosman, in Rosman for the second round of the NCHSAA State Playoffs.
“The girls are going to have to play hard,” Desiray Schmitt said. “We have played Rosman twice already, and they are a really good team. I definitely think we can beat them, but they are going to have to come out even stronger than they have been.”
The Lady Highlanders ended their season Tuesday, losing to Rosman 25-22, 25-9 and 25-23.
HHS finished with a record of 13-9.
- By Christopher Smith