Dunwoody’s Hayley Brown comes up with a big dig during her team’s 3-0 Class 6A state playoff first round win over Rockdale County. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Dunwoody Lady Wildcats rolled to a 3-0 sweep of the Rockdale County Bulldogs in the first round of the Class 6A state volleyball playoffs on Wednesday night at Dunwoody.
Dunwoody (27-10) went on a 9-0 run in the first set behind the serving of Hayley Baron and the play of Caroline Vanke and Morgan Speice at the net.
Vanke had three big hits at the net on assists from Speice and Speice used a nice touch into an open spot on the Rockdale side of the net as the lead went from 8-4 to 17-4 before Rockdale was able to stop the run briefly.
Ava Billeri had a pair service aces and Jazlyn Daughtry had her third kill of the night as the lead went o 23-6. The two teams traded points in the final moments as Dunwoody finished off the set 25-7 to go up 1-0 in the best-of-five match.
Daughtry got off to a hot start in the second set hitting three early kills to the far right corner as Dunwoody jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead and never looked back.
Dunwoody head volleyball coach Julie Gardner was all smiles after her team won its first-round playoff match over Rockdale County following her being named Area 4-6A Coach of the Year. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Natalie Duke had a nice stretch of play at the net as the lead went to 13-3 as she had two kills and two blocks in the run. The Lady Wildcats cruised on to the 25-7 second set victory to go up 2-0.
Rockdale (15-18) played well early in the third set matching Dunwoody to a 3-3 tie before the Lady Wildcats blew open the game with an 11-0 run.
With Claire Warren serving, Vanke got three nice put aways on two assists from Lauren Garber and another from Speice. Duke added another with the assist from Speice.
Rockdale closed to within 15-6 behind the play of Taylor McIntyre at the net before Dunwoody went on a 6-0 run fueled by the serving of Baron (2 aces) with deep serves that allowed Judy Goodchild and Ella Johnson along with Daughtry getting in on the scoring act to push the advantage to 22-6.
Daughtry closed out the match with back-to-back laser kills into the back of the Rockdale defense for the final of 25-9 to seal the 3-0 match victory.
Dunwoody heads to the Sweet 16 colliding with Houston County (26-12) in Warner Robins, a 3-1 winner over South Effingham, on Wednesday.
In Class 4A action on Wednesday, Southwest DeKalb (25-10-1) lost at home 0-3 to Lovett (24-8) and Stephenson (18-8) lost 0-3 on the road at Pace Academy (38-1).
Towers (12-18) fell 0-3 to North Cobb Christian (30-12) in a road contest in the first round of the Class 2A state playoffs.
Chamblee is set for its Sweet 16 match on Saturday as the Lady Bulldogs (22-16) host Statesboro (22-11) at 3:00 pm at Chamblee High. Statesboro won 3-0 over Eagle’s Landing on Wednesday.
DCSD VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFF RESULTS
Tuesday, October 18
CLASS 5A
Chamblee (22-16) 3, Northgate (14-28-3) 1
Harris Co. (30-16) 3, Arabia Mountain (12-15-1) 0
McIntosh (31-12) 3, Tucker (13-18-1) 0
CLASS 3A
Bremen (28-5-2) 3, Cedar Grove (0-17) 0
Wednesday, October 19
CLASS 6A
Dunwoody (27-10) 3, Rockdale Co. (15-19) 0
CLASS 4A
Lovett (24-8) 3, SW DeKalb (25-10-1) 0
Pace Academy (38-1) 3, Stephenson (18-8) 0
CLASS 2A
North Cobb Christian (30-12) 3, Towers (12-18) 0
DCSD VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Saturday, October 19
Class 6A
Dunwoody (27-10) at Houston Co. (26-12), TBA
Class 5A
Statesboro (22-11) at Chamblee (22-16), 3:00 pm