Girls volleyball team wins second round playoff match

By John Smithson

The NMB High School Lady Chiefs won their second round SCHSL 5A playoff match 3-0 last Monday over an overmatched Berkeley team. Last Wednesday the Chiefs took on Lucy Beckham in round three and held on for a 3-2 victory and place in the Lower State Championship match on Monday.

The match with the Bengals was the third time the two teams had met this season. The Chiefs had won 2-1 in a tournament on October 10 and the Chiefs traveled to Mt. Pleasant on October 16 for their last regular season match before the playoffs.

The Chiefs won that match 3-1 but one of the sets ended with a 29-27 Chiefs win. It was always a battle whenever these two schools faced each other across the net. The script did not change last Wednesday evening at North Myrtle Beach. It was a battle.

The Bengals and Chiefs were even through an 11-11 tie in the first set, with Lucy Beckham‘s seven kills offset by three service errors. Another service error put Harlow Horton behind the service line with a 12-11 lead. Horton’s four aces and three Chiefs kills, two by Lilly Loeswick, gave the Chiefs a 19-11 lead

The Bengals battled back with three straight points before a service error and 20-14 Chiefs lead. Three Clara Cloninger kills helped the Chiefs to a 24-19 lead. The Bengals closed to 24-21 before Loeswick’s kill sealed the first set win.

Set two started out like set one, the teams tied eight times until it was 13-13. Cloninger’s ace and kill and a Loeswick kill put the Chiefs up 16-13. The Bengals fought back and closed to within one point at 21-20 and a Chiefs timeout. An attack error and two service errors by Lucy Beckham helped the Chiefs to a 2-0 lead and 25-22 second set score in the match.

The Bengals opened the third set with two kills and three aces and 5-1 lead. The Chiefs then stayed within two points of the lead until it was 17-15 but three kills by the Bengals stretched their advantage to 21-16. After a Cloninger kill the Bengals had four kills and a 25-19 set win.

The fourth set was much like the third. Lucy Beckham had six kills in their first nine points, offsetting two Cloninger and one Loeswick kill and a 9-5 lead. The Chiefs trailed 10-6 before three Loeswick kills narrowed the Bengal lead to 11-9. The Bengals led 14-12, then pulled away to a 25-18 set win with five more kills down the stretch.

The fifth and final set opened with a Cloninger kill but the Bengals had two kills and two service aces to lead 5-1. Two Bengal attack errors and the Chiefs cut the lead to 7-3. With Katlyn Powers serving up two aces and two Chiefs kills and three attack errors across the net the Chiefs took the lead 9-7.

A Powers service error and Bengals kill tied the score at 9-9 and a Bengals service error and two attack errors gave the lead back to the Chiefs at 12-11. A Bengal kill, Cloninger kill, Bengal kill, Cloninger kill and one more Bengal kill tied the score at 14-14 before Cloninger had another kill for a 15-14 lead.

The Bengals scored to tie it at 15-15 but a Bengals service error followed for the 16-15 Chiefs lead. The Chiefs then won the set and the match point when Katelyn Power’s serve was received and hit high in the air off the ceiling of the gym and could not be returned. The Chiefs fans and team erupted in cheers and the scoreboard reflected the 17-15 set win and 3-2 match victory and a ticket into their next match against Conway for the Lower State title.

After the match I asked Chiefs coach Jenn Loeswick what she told her team before that final set. “They were playing excellent. Lucy Beckham played an amazing match. They are so tough, and they keep fighting and fighting. Going into that fifth set we have been talking about grit all season. This is what we want. We want to have to compete. We want to play good teams. We like to go to five sets. That’s okay. It’s okay for another team to earn points and keep extending matches. That’s what makes you better.”

“We’ve been talking about resilience, grit and just competing all season long and that’s where it showed up, right there at the end, thank goodness. We were down 7-2 in that fifth set and I could not be prouder of them for playing hard and staying aggressive and feeding each other and really playing as a team,” Loeswick said.

While Clara Cloninger had 21 kills, Loeswick 18 and Madison Johnson 5 kills, Harlow Horton had five service aces in the match. Crucial digs to save points or return serves by Loeswick, Cloninger, Powers and Mikayla Altena, as well as Altena’s 44 assists, 79 serves received by Powers and Loeswick all were part of that team effort. Each player on that court contributed at the net, flying across court to save a point or making crucial serves despite limited playing time.

It’s down to one match, Monday versus Conway, who beat Myrtle Beach to earn their way to the Lower State match.