Myrtle Beach volleyball beats Orangeburg-Wilkinson to advance in playoffs

The Myrtle Beach volleyball team has been in a groove all season long.

And the Seahawks keep on rolling.

With a 3-0 win Tuesday over Orangeburg-Wilkinson in the second round of the Class AAA playoffs, Myrtle Beach has now won 13 straight matches since suffering its only loss of the season to Class AAAA Socastee on Sept. 8.

“We came in ready to play, for sure. We showed it in the first set and came out and played hard and played clean volleyball,” Seahawks coach Larry Church said. “In the middle of the second set, we got a little loose there and made a lot of unforced errors. But Orangeburg-Wilkinson played hard; [that is] an improved program. I’m really proud of the way we played tonight.”

While Myrtle Beach rarely trailed Tuesday, the Bruins kept showing signs of life and didn’t allow the Seahawks to pull away. Fortunately for the Seahawks, they put Orangeburg-Wilkinson away with a strong third set victory, 25-17.

“They’ve done a great job of getting better and better at ball control and staying in rallies,” Church said of the Bruins. “That forced us into some errors but we were able to overcome and get it done.”

And Church wasn’t going to overlook the opponent that took a set from his squad in the second round of last year’s Class AAA playoffs. The Seahawks beat the Bruins 3-1 in that match to advance to the Lower State semifinals, where they fell to Aiken.

“We knew they weren’t going to be a pushover tonight,” Church said. “Again, they’re a good ball-control team. They stayed in rallies but, offensively, I think we were a little bit too strong and consistent for them tonight.”

Freshman Gracie Davis led the Seahawks with 15 kills, sophomore Cassie Runyon contributed nine, and senior Maggie Slabinski and sophomore Darby Sheets had eight apiece.

The Seahawks will host Hartsville on Thursday at 6 p.m. in a battle of No. 1 seeds with a spot in the Lower State finals on the line.

In 2013, Myrtle Beach beat the Red Foxes in the second round of the playoffs. However, Hartsville beat the Seahawks in the first round of the 2012 Class AAA playoffs.

“Hartsville – developmentally – is a really good team and they cruised through their region this year,” Church said. “So we’ll have to be ready to play a team that also brings good defensive skills.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 10:21 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach volleyball beats Orangeburg-Wilkinson to advance in playoffs."