Wilson, South Florence vying for region volleyball title

By Dennis Brunson

hssr.com Associate Editor

Florence – John Davis is in his ninth season as the girls volleyball head coach at Wilson High School. While he has built the program into a consistently good one, Wilson has never won a region title.

That could change this season.

The Tigers were off to an 8-1 start in the 7-team region 5-AAAA. The loss came against Hartsville by a 3-1 count, but Wilson came back and won the second meeting by the same score. Hartsville, however, is 5-2 in the region, having also lost to South Florence.

The Bruins have just one loss in the region, that coming to Wilson. They were 6-1 so they still had five region contests left like Hartsville.

The Tigers had three region matches remaining, all of them at home. They were scheduled to play South Florence on October 7, meaning they can pretty much secure the region title with a win. Wilson beat South Florence 3-0 in the first meeting.

Wilson’s other matches are against Lower Richland on October 8 and Darlington on October 17. Wilson beat Lower Richland 3-0 and Darlington 3-1 in the initial meetings.

“We just try to compete one match at a time and play together as we try to hold on to first place in the region,” said Davis, whose team was 14-5 overall. The Tigers went 14-9 last year, losing in the first round of the state playoffs to James Island.

The starting lineup for Wilson includes sophomore setter Janielle Carbonell, senior outside hitter Elena Gregory, sophomore middle hitter Logan Murray, senior rightside hitter Skylah Evans, junior defensive specialist Jada Owens, junior middle hitter Veda Lewis and junior libero Lauren Sehnke.

           Carbonell had 93 assists while Sehnke had 115 digs. Murray had 106 attacks and 22 solo blocks and Gregory had 109 attacks.

           The rest of the roster includes junior defensive specialist Amelia Foxe, junior defensive specialist La’quetta Gregg, junior rightside hitter Jordan Nelson, sophomore middle hitter/outside hitter Elon Mack, junior defensive specialist Abigail Chery, junior setter/rightside hitter Kaylee Braswell, senior defensive specialist Zhane’ Timmons, sophomore defensive specialist Dakota Otero and sophomore outside hitter Kamren McFadden.

           A South Florence victory over Wilson would put it in position to win the region. That would leave Wilson hoping for Hartsville to beat the Bruins in their regular-season finale to likely force a 3-way tie and have playoff seeds decided by tiebreakers.

           After playing Wilson, South Florence is to play host to Lakewood on October 8, play at Lower Richland on October 15 and play at Hartsville on October 17. Also, the Bruins had a match against Crestwood postponed because of Hurricane Helene. It has yet to be rescheduled.

           Members of the South Florence team are senior defensive specialist Payton Perry, junior middle hitter/rightside hitter Lydia Danford, junior middle hitter/rightside hitter Lilly Gregg, junior middle hitter Kayla Carroway, junior setter/libero Hailey McManus, sophomore libero Reagan Rowsey, sophomore outside hitter/rightside hitter Mcall Gregg, sophomore defensive specialist Anna Danford, sophomore setter/outside hitter/rightside hitter Blakely Blue, sophomore Ryleigh Hux, freshman hitter Jana Knight and a pair of eighth-graders, defensive specialists Rylie Rowsey and Baylor Gregg.

            WEST FLORENCE 2-3 IN REGION 5-AAAAA

           West Florence is no longer region foes with South Florence and Wilson since it moved to AAAAA with reclassification. The Knights are 2-3 in the 7-team Region 5, meaning it has a lot of matches left to play in determining playoff seedings.

           While no longer region foes, that doesn’t mean the three schools aren’t playing each other. Wilson beat West Florence twice, but the Knights beat South Florence 3-0 on October 1.

           West Florence won by the scores of 25-11, 25-15, 27-25. Elizabeth White led the Knights with five service aces and 15 kills to go along with three digs. Mikalah Woods led in digs with 10, while Lexi Rogers and Laura Tiller led in assists with nine apiece. Tiller also had four digs.

           Camryn White and Leyna Wierzbicki had the only blocks for West Florence. White had a good all-around match, finishing with three digs, three kills and one ace. Wierzbicki also had an ace, a kill and a dig.

Sam Rogers had seven digs, four kills and one assist, Addison Pusser had eight assists and one ace, Allie Moore and Kara Bluharty both had five digs and Allie Moore had three.

           Evelyn Edwards had three digs and one kill, Allie Clyde Higgs had one kill and one assist, Paityn Daniels had four digs and one ace, McKenna Flowers had two kills and Nataleigh Palmer had one kill and one assist.