Polk County shed tears of joy Thursday night at Brevard. The ones falling down Saturday at Maiden, though, weren’t nearly as happy.
The top-seeded Blue Devils brought one of the best seasons in Polk County history to an end Saturday, handing the Wolverines a 25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 25-17 setback in a 2A state quarterfinal playoff match.
Maiden (27-1) advanced to a semifinal match on Tuesday with Wheatmore. Polk County saw its season end at 20-8.
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The Wolverines had their chances Saturday. Polk County built a 13-7 lead in the opening set, only to see Maiden rally behind hitters Kylie Morgan and Holland Laxton to take the first game.
Polk County responded with a solid performance in set two, Ashley Love blasting four of her 14 kills in the set, to even the match at 1-1. Polk then took a 20-18 lead late in the third set, only to see Maiden rally for a 25-22 win, putting the Devils up 2-1.
Maiden then raced to an 18-8 lead in the fourth set, closing the match moments later on a Morgan kill from outside left.
“We came in really confident, and in the first three sets we had five or six-point leads in each of them,” said Polk County head coach Molly Hill. “In the second set we really played how we should have played and beat them pretty easily.
“It’s disappointing. I told them after the match that we’ve got to learn how to finish. It’s a good learning process for next year, but it’s disappointing.”
Love, one of two seniors on the team, had 26 digs and three aces for Polk County, which also got 12 kills and 17 digs from Reagan Waddell and 26 digs from Kendall Hall. Savannah Ross, the team’s other senior, had 31 assists, 10 digs and three aces.
