Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach volleyball entrenched in rivalry that runs deep
Myrtle Beach coach Larry Church and North Myrtle Beach coach Erica Allman know each other all too well.
The same can be said about the teams they lead.
Seemingly every year it comes down to the Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach volleyball teams battling it out for the top spot in Region VII-AAA, and the heated rivalry between the two schools has made for some pretty exciting matches over the years.
Since 2007, the Chiefs hold a 9-7 series advantage over the Seahawks. The last time Myrtle Beach missed the playoffs was in 2004 and the last time North Myrtle Beach failed to make the postseason was 2002 as both teams have a rich history of reaching the postseason.
“The funny thing is – this is my 15th year with Myrtle Beach – and the entire time North Myrtle Beach has been in [Region VII-AAA] and it’s either been the Chiefs or Seahawks 10 of those 15 years that wins the region championship,” Church said after his team’s 3-0 road win over North Myrtle Beach on Tuesday. “Obviously this match means a lot in that regard, as far as the region is concerned. But then there’s also the personal level. We share the city name; Myrtle Beach is in both schools’ names.”
To make matters even more personal, Church – as an assistant with Myrtle Beach – coached against Allman when she played for the Chiefs.
Church actually coached Allman – who graduated from North Myrtle Beach in 2006 – while he was an instructor with the Grand Strand Juniors, a club volleyball team. Allman played for Church’s squad during her offseasons as a student at North Myrtle Beach High School.
“It’s definitely an evolution in the rivalry,” Church said of his history with Allman.
Said Allman: “Larry and I have a great relationship. We stay in contact on a regular basis.”
Allman was a vital piece as a player in some of those huge rivalry matches between the Chiefs and Seahawks.
She’s still playing a big part, just in a different role.
“I [played] in some matches that are just like the ones I’m coaching in now,” said Allman, whose team was 7-3 overall and 4-1 in region play following Tuesday’s match. “With the rivalry, it basically always comes down to North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach in that final game to determine the top spot in the region and one of us is usually undefeated and just like a game ahead of the other. So it’s always an amped match and the girls always have a lot of emotions going in and during the match.”
In their first year as head coaches, both Allman and Church led their teams to the Class AAA state championship game in their first year as head coaches.
Allman took over at North Myrtle Beach in 2013 as the Chiefs were coming off a Class AAA state title and 30-1 record under her former coach Estelle Barentine, who retired after the season. As the new coach of North Myrtle Beach, Allman led the Chiefs to a 21-3 record and brought them back to the state championship, where they lost to Pickens.
Overall, Allman has racked up over 40 wins in two-plus years as coach of North Myrtle Beach.
Church started as an assistant at Myrtle Beach in 2000 and wound up getting the head coaching gig in 2011. In his first year as the head coach, he marched the Seahawks into the Class AAA state championship, where the team fell to Eastside. Overall, Church has led the Seahawks to more than 60 victories in his four-plus years as the head coach.
Neither Church nor Allman has led their team back to the state championship since those losses, but this year could be different. Myrtle Beach freshman Gracie Davis believes that if the Seahawks (13-1, 6-0) can keep up their torrid pace, they’ll have a good shot to return to the Class AAA state championship for the first time in four years.
“We’ve worked hard this whole season,” Davis said. “If we continue to improve, we have a chance to take states.”
Both the Chiefs and Seahawks were 4-0 in region play heading into Tuesday’s showdown and, as usual, the stakes were high.
“It’s crazy,” Church said of the atmosphere. “I actually texted Erica yesterday and told her to have her fans take it easy on us because it’s always rowdy when we come up here. It’s the kind of atmosphere we need to be in especially going into the postseason.”
Said Davis: “We were a little intimidated by the big student section but we overcame that and I think we played well. It’s a nice win in a playoff-like atmosphere. … The stakes are always high just because it’s such a big rivalry. We look forward to meeting them again when they come to our place.”
So far, advantage Seahawks.
“In my time here, this is really the first year we’ve had an advantage in the rivalry,” Davis said. “In the past, North Myrtle Beach has been ranked higher than us so this was our first chance to really be in the driver’s seat.”
The Chiefs plan to use the loss as a learning experience as they move forward.
“We knew coming in that Myrtle Beach is a really good team; that’s no secret,” said Allman, who is 3-2 against Church and the Seahawks since her coaching debut in 2013. “We know what they had and I felt like we could’ve played better at times but, you know, it is what it is. At the end of the day, we get back into the gym tomorrow and go back at it, correct our errors and go from there.”
Chiefs sophomore Maddie Roy said Myrtle Beach is always a target and North Myrtle Beach has been gunning for the Seahawks since the start of the year. While things didn’t go their way in Round 1, the Chiefs hope to give the Seahawks a run for their money when they travel to Myrtle Beach on Oct. 15 for the Region VII-AAA finale.
“I hate to say it, but our main goal [this year] was to beat Myrtle Beach. We wanted to do it tonight, but we’re just focusing on getting better throughout the season; there’s always room for improvement,” Roy said. “But this has always been a big rivalry between the two teams because we’re so competitive. Next time we play them we’re going to come back fighting even harder and hopefully we’ll improve a lot from now until then.”
Said Allman: “It’s always been a fun rivalry; it’s fun for the girls but hopefully we can look better next time and give (the Seahawks) a better run.”
Allman said you can throw records out when the two teams meet, something she doesn’t see changing anytime soon.
“Throw aside what team is better that season or what team has the stronger talent; you never know who’s going to pull it out just because players just play so differently in that game,” Allman said. “The stakes are always raised. It’s a rivalry that will keep going for a long time; I don’t see it going away any time soon.”
Max McKinnon: 843-626-0302, @mmckinnonTSN
Scouting the Seahawks
The Seahawks finished 13-6 last season and made it to the Lower State semifinals, where they were eliminated by Aiken. Coach Larry Church is hoping his squad learned from it and wants his girls to use it to their advantage.
“Last year, we got eliminated from the playoffs and I made the statement, ‘There’s no substitute for experience,’ ” he said. “That playoff run last year helped and going through the non-region schedule with tough teams like Socastee and the region schedule, that’s given us a big boost to our confidence for the rest of the season.”
Church’s team has a nice mix this year as he has two seniors, one junior, three sophomores and one freshman in his starting rotation.
“There’s a balance of veteran leadership and youth but our youth is not [inexperienced]; my freshman [Gracie Davis] has been playing for me for three years,” Church said. “So we have a lot of experience with girls being involved in the program for years and that’s really helped us a lot.”
Scouting the Chiefs
The Chiefs are filled with youth. North Myrtle Beach lost Marci Chestnut – last season’s Region VII-AAA player of the year – and Ellen Johnson. Both players were named to the North-South All-Star Volleyball matches.
This year, Allman’s squad features no seniors and she starts three juniors, two sophomores, two freshmen and one eighth-grader. While it may be tough to match the program’s past success this year, Allman said she likes the direction the team is headed.
“They’re young and youth shows in big games,” Allman said. “When the pressure is on, some of them don’t necessarily know how to handle it and they let mistakes happen. That’s the youth but it gives us hope for the future, too; we have something to build on.”
Said North Myrtle Beach sophomore Maddie Roy: “We don’t have any seniors so next year I feel like as we improve and work hard, we’re going to be really good. The future is bright.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2015 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach volleyball entrenched in rivalry that runs deep."