SALEMBURG — East Columbus came one step closer to adding the Carolina Conference Tournament Championship crown to its regular season title after a thrilling five-set victory over East Bladen in the semi-final match.
The top seeded ECHS Gators were pushed to the limit with the set scores being 20-25, 23-25, 25-11, 25-14, and 15-13. The Eagles came out and stunned East Columbus, scoring six straight points in finishing the first set victory 25-20.
East Bladen squeezed out the second set victory 25-22 scoring the last three points. East Columbus rallied to get the third set and then it was all Gators from there as they went on to win the last two sets.
The Eagles (7-15) were led by Taylor Dowless with fifteen kills. East Bladen will await the pairings to be announced to see if they received a bid in the 2A playoffs.
East Columbus (18-1) face North Duplin (16-5) in Salemburg Wednesday for the tournament title. The Rebels are led by Maggie Brown, who had eight kills in the semifinal win over Hobbton. East Columbus will also have to be on the watch for Lillie Fulghum, who dished out 13 assists in the victory Tuesday over Hobbton.
East Columbus is led in the championship match by Malia Graham, who had 61 blocks on the year for the Gators and averaged just under four kills a set. Both squads will make the playoffs as East Columbus is in the 1A classification and North Duplin is in the 2A classification. The Carolina Conference is a split 1A/2A conference.
Be the first to comment