Thursday’s area sports briefs (Oct. 15)

The Green Sea Floyds girls cross country team finished the regular season strong with a perfect score.

After taking home a win in a five-team meet Thursday at Latta, Trojans coach Phyllis Elvington is hoping her squad can carry the momentum into the Region VIII-A meet.

And beyond.

“I want us to aim high,” Elvington said. “We finished strong tonight and our goal is to be region champs and finish as high as we can in the Lower State meet and the State meet.”

However, Elvington’s Trojans are dealing with some bumps and bruises along the way.

“We have several with minor injuries right now and that always happens this late in the year,” Elvington said. “But I’m hoping we’re all healthy going into the region meet.”

And Elvington doesn’t think the Trojans have reached their full potential, either.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re running against, we’re always trying to improve our times. We’re always racing against the clock,” she said. “Last race, eight girls had personal bests and were pumped for lowering their times but – even though the regular season is finished – we’re still not where we want to be.”

The Green Sea Floyds girls team ended the regular season with a 23-11 record, while the Trojans’ boys team – which was outlasted by Marion in the five-team meet Thursday against Latta – finished at 18-17.

“I just want them to enjoy running,” Elvington said. “We’re gonna do our best for the region meet and come into the Lower State [meet] strong.”

High school girls volleyball

▪ (At) Myrtle Beach 3, North Myrtle Beach 0 (25-19, 25-11, 25-13) | The Seahawks picked up a shutout victory to finish a season sweep of the Chiefs as Myrtle Beach was crowned the Region VII-AAA champions.

The Seahawks were led by Gracie Davis with 12 kills, while Cassie Runyon and Maggie Slabinski added seven apiece.

Myrtle Beach, which finished 10-0 in region play, will travel to Socastee on Monday at 6 p.m. for the regular season finale. The Seahawks are 12-1 and their lone loss came at the hands of the Braves on Sept. 8.

▪ Socastee 3, (at) West Florence 0 (25-8, 25-23, 25-13) | Dale Rogers, Mary D. Guest and Eden Dukes combined for 40 kills and Katelynn Hine contibuted 45 assists as the Braves downed the Knights to finish Region VIII-AAAA play undefeated at 10-0.

▪ St. James 3, Lake City 0 (25-11, 25-9, 25-10) | Mallory Farmer had 14 service points and six kills and Skyla Corey added eight service points, seven kills and three blocks as the Sharks finished out region play on a high note with a win over the Panthers.

St. James finished the region at 6-4, good for third place.

High school girls tennis

▪ (At) Myrtle Beach 7, North Myrtle Beach 0 | The Seahawks swept the Chiefs to finish Region VII-AAA in first place at 8-0.

Singles: Elizabeth Truluck (MB) d. Makala Gore 6-0, 6-0; Emma Springs (MB) d. Tessa Thomas 6-0, 6-1; Bailey Deskins (MB) d. Taylor Gore. 6-0, 6-1; Paxton Gentry (MB) d. Marena Willeford. 6-0, 6-0; Catherine Truluck (MB) d. Lorena Beltran. 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles: E. Truluck/Springs (MB) d. M. Gore/Thomas 8-2; Sarah Woodard/Cayce Roberts (MB) d. Malaysia Williams/Kimarria Vereen 6-1, 6-1.

▪ Carolina Forest 4, (at) Conway 3 | With a clutch win at No. 2 doubles by Casey Mallon and Brittany Morgan, the Panthers edged the Tigers.

▪ Socastee 4, (at) West Florence 2 | The Braves dropped two singles matches, but the doubles team of Marie Benedetti and Hannah Beam won as the Braves got past the Knights.

▪ East Clarendon 4, (at) Green Sea Floyds 3 | The Trojans and Wolverines have played in some heated rivalry matches.

The teams finished two close ones on Thursday, too.

While Green Sea Floyds fell to East Clarendon in the team’s regularly scheduled match Thursday, the Trojans also picked up a win over the Wolverines in a match at East Clarendon on Sept. 10 that was suspended due to rain.

“We knew going in that the two of us are really tight in the region and it’s still undecided,” Green Sea Floyds coach Tracy Kienast said. “The girls knew that coming in and came out and played reaslly well right off the bat and had a good effort. These are two even teams.”

The scores reflected that. Both matches came down to one set each.

“It was intense,” Kienast said.

The Trojans still have one match to go, and it very well may come down to a tiebreaker between Green Sea Floyds and East Clarendon for the Region VIII-A title.

“We talked about that after the match. We have one left, they have one left. One of us will get it and we just have to take care of our match, not worry about theirs and see how things fall. We need to worry about what we can control.”

▪ Green Sea Floyds 4, East Clarendon 3 (comp. suspended match)

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 11:43 PM with the headline "Thursday’s area sports briefs (Oct. 15)."