DeKalb County has two teams headed to the GHSA volleyball state playoffs Sweet 16 as Chamblee and Druid Hills both pulled off 3-1 first round wins in their respective classifications this week.

Chamblee (32-12) rallied from a 0-1 match score deficit to the Newnan Cougars (16-22) with a thrilling rally from three match points in the fourth set for a 28-26 victory to clinch the Class 5A best-of-five match 3-1 on Wednesday afternoon at Chamblee.

The Bulldogs after winning the second and third sets jumped out to a 16-9 advantage in the fourth as they were clicking up front behind Nathalie Tsai fed Nayla Norman, Nadia Norman and Maggie Meeks while also adding a no-look, touch shot to an open corner.

Newnan won the point to make it 16-10 and reeled off 11 more points behind the serve of Kaylie Green and the play at the net by Kaycie Brown to go up 21-16. The Bulldogs came storming back behind Nayla Norman, Meeks and Tsai to claw back to 22-22.

The Cougars got to game point (24-23) only to have Tsai feed Yana Barga for a big put away to tie the game. Newnan got to set point once again at 25-24 and Norman answered with another put away to knot the set at 25-25. Barga also made some key diving plays to keep points going with the Bulldogs facing a loss and a possible fifth set for the match.

Newnan took a third set point (26-25), and Chamblee answered with Tsai setting up Nadia Norman for the set tying point at 26-26. Madison Sullivan then served out the match as the Cougars hit the net on match point for the final of 28-26.

Newnan was trailing 13-14 in the opening set before outdueling the Bulldogs 12-8 to win the opening set 25-22 before Chamblee bounced back to win a 26-24 thriller in set two on Tsai’s big block at the net.

Chamblee ran away with the third set 25-12 as they jumped to a 16-9 lead on a Tsai ace and moved out to 20-9 advantage as CeCe Curran made a pair of big plays on back-to-back points on an assist from Tsai and then a block at the net.

Chamblee advances to the Sweet 16 for the eighth time in nine seasons and will travel to Milton, 3-0 winner over Woodstock, on Saturday with a time to be announced.

Druid Hills 3, New Hampstead 1
The Druid Hills Red Devils made school history with their 3-1 Class 4A first round victory over New Hampstead on the road on Tuesday night.

Druid Hills (29-18) won the opening set 25-22 and New Hampstead bounced back for a 25-21 win in the second set to even the best-of-five match at 1-1. The Red Devils answered with 25-18 and 25-10 wins in the third and fourth sets, respectively, to close out the first-round win to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009 and second time in program history.

The victory also gave Druid Hills its 500th win (500-346-2) in program history.

Druid Hills advances to Saturday’s Class 4A Sweet 16 against North Oconee (32-14), a 3-0 winner over Locust Grove in first round play, on Saturday at North Oconee with time to be announced.

Spencer 3, Miller Grove 0
Miller Grove’s first volleyball state playoff appearance since 2017 came up short in a 3-0 defeat to the Spencer Green Wave on Tuesday in the first round of the Class 2A state playoffs at Miller Grove.

Miller Grove (18-3) got off to a quick 3-0 start to open the match with a big spike by Kemora McCollum. Spencer then climbed out of the hole and led by as much as 14-8 before Payton Black hit the ball off a defender to close the gap to 14-12.

Demyah Peoples had the Wolverines with 23-20 with a nice touch shot to the open court only to have Spencer win the next two points to seal the first set 25-20 win. Miller Grove led the second set 12-10 when the Green Wave went on 10-0 run to take control for 25-16 win in the second set to give themselves a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match.

Spencer (10-22) rallied from deficits of five and four points during the third set before clinching the match with 25-21 win.

DCSD VOLLEYBALL STATE PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Tuesday, Oct. 15
CLASS 4A
Druid Hills (29-18) 3, New Hampstead (17-14) 1
CLASS 2A
Spencer (10-22) 3, Miller Grove (18-3) 0
Union Co. (17-18) 3, Redan (9-10) 0

Wednesday, Oct. 16
CLASS 5A
Chamblee (32-12) 3, Newnan (16-22) 1
Northgate (28-14) 3, Lakeside (23-13) 0
CLASS 3A
Heritage-Catoosa (27-5) 3, Stone Mountain (8-14) 0
White Co. (29-9) 3, Cedar Grove (13-1) 0
Fayette Co. (16-17) 3, Stephenson (12-13) 0