Volleyball team from Union County ready for second round

BLAIRSVILLE, GA – The volleyball squad from Union County will make the three-hour trip south Wednesday, Oct. 23, to take on Harlem in the second round of the Class A/AA playoffs.

The Lady Panthers (14-19) earned a spot in the second round by taking down Model (24-18) Saturday, October 19. That match was also played at Harlem.

Union County won the match 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-19) to earn the second-round bid.

“We played with really good team chemistry,” coach Megan Swanson said. “We didn’t come out sluggish, which was a worry after the three-plus hour bus ride down. Instead, we showed up and took care of business.”

The Lady Panthers were led by senior Adelia Pyle, who had six aces, six kills and a block in the three sets against Model.

Senior Kait McCarter added eight blocks and six kills, while sophomore Riley Allison led the team with nine kills.

Haley Noe played well in the match with a team-high 18 digs and two aces serving. Noe stepped into the libero role after senior Izabella Zamora suffered a season-ending hand injury during the region tournament.

“Haley has stepped into that role very well for us,” Swanson said. “She’s playing well and helping lead our team.”

While Union County’s overall record may not seem impressive, Swanson said it may be misleading.

“When you get into the state playoffs, you play the best-of-five games,” Swanson said. “So I tried to schedule our out-of-area matches against teams, mainly from North Carolina, that played the best-of-five so that we would be accustomed to that.”

A good many of those teams are from higher classifications. So while the matches may have went down in the record books as losses, the experience gained by the Lady Panthers can’t be recorded.

That experience proved its worth Saturday.

Georgia volleyball squads normally play matches in a best-of-three sets format.

“Even when you play a tri-match with two schools, you get a break between while the other two school play each other. You have to go straight through at least three sets in the playoffs,” Swanson said.

The pre-planning showed on Saturday as the Lady Panthers were readily prepared to not only play five sets, but dominate them.

Harlem comes into the second round as the Region 2-A/AA champion, setting up a challenge for the Lady Panthers.

“I feel confident, and I know the team does,” Swanson said. “We can win and move on. We want to raise the first volleyball banner in school history.”