Myrtle Beach volleyball soars into Lower State AAA final

The Myrtle Beach volleyball team has been playing lights out.

With the stakes now higher than ever, the Seahawks are hoping they can continue the positive momentum.

Courtesy of a 3-0 victory over No. 1 Hartsville in the third round of the Class AAA playoffs Thursday, Myrtle Beach has now swept 13 of its last 14 opponents and is one stepfrom a spot in the state championship.

“I think we played much better than we did on Tuesday night,” said Seahawks coach Larry Church, whose team beat Orangeburg-Wilkinson 3-0 Tuesday in the second round. “We played cleaner volleyball and played like we have all year.”

Myrtle Beach jumped on the Red Foxes early and often Thursday, with freshman Gracie Davis and sophomore Cassie Runyon giving the Seahawks a push with their strong play.

Davis – the Region VII-AAA Player of the Year – finished with a match-high 18 kills, with Runyon contributing eight.

“I think we played well. We weren’t intimidated at all,” Davis said. “Hartsville is a tough team, but we’ve been preparing all year for matches like this.”

Myrtle Beach won 25-13 in Game 1, but Church believed his squad could have played a little tougher to start the match.

“We came out a little bit excited,” Church said. “We made some uncharacteristic errors early on. After we cleaned it up, it was pretty good volleyball.”

The teams battled back-and-forth early on in Game 2, splitting its first 12 points. But it was all Seahawks after that, as they never trailed using a 19-6 run to win in the set, 25-15.

Then, Myrtle Beach turned on the afterburners.

With the help of sophomore setter Dani Hix – who finished with 27 assists – Myrtle Beach raced out to an 11-0 advantage in Game 3 and never looked back, winning 25-8 to take the match.

“I think we were definitely in a groove at that point,” Davis said. “We were getting all of our passes right to [Hix] and she was doing a really good job of setting up the hitters and we really fed off her energy.”

Said Runyon: “With Dani back there setting us up, we were racking up point after point. It was almost like we were unstoppable.”

Myrtle Beach sophomore Darby Sheets contributed six kills and senior Maggie Slabinski finished with five kills.

Meanwhile, Runyon said facing a No. 1 seed didn’t change the Seahawks’ mindset as they prepared for the match.

“We talked about it before the match. Every team we play, our mentality stays the same,” Runyon said. “Even if we play a No. 4 seed, we’re still going to prepare and play the same as we would [against] a No. 1 seed.”

Myrtle Beach will have to prepare for another No. 1 seed, the Seahawks heading to Hilton Head for a date in the Lower State finals on Tuesday. First serve is at 6 p.m.

Davis said her team will be up for the challenge.

“We’re ready,” Davis said. “Once we get up there, we’re going to play our hardest and not hesitate for a second, because that’s how a team can take advantage of you.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 10:44 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach volleyball soars into Lower State AAA final."