Taking down the defending 4A state runner-up is one of the biggest feathers that team can put in its cap to start the season.

Thanks to an 11-2 run to start the fifth set, Weddington did just that to secure a season-opening road victory at Cox Mill.

Not only did the Warriors play with their backs to the wall in the fifth, they had to win the final two sets of the match to escape with a win.

The first separation of the match was created when Weddington took a 22-18 first set lead. Cox Mill’s Kacie Moore fueled a run to pull the set even at 23-23, but the Warriors buckled down to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Louisville commit Jordyn Gray made her season debut for Cox Mill at the start of the second set and quickly jolted life into home side.

Moore secured a gym-rattling block to win the second 25-21, and Gray hammered down a kill to put the finishing touches on a back-and-forth 25-23 third set victory.

With the fourth tied at 17-17, Harper Davis and Natalie Johnson sparked a momentum-shifting run for Weddington. The Warriors earned 8 of the final 9 points in the set to win 25-18 and stay alive in the match.

Claire Hanson tallied a kill to highlight a 6-0 run to open the fifth. Falling behind by as much as nine in the decisive frame, Cox Mill attempted to close the gap but would come up short.

The 15-7 fifth set win secured the 3-2 victory in the match for the visitors.

Weddington opens the year 1-0. Despite going 17-10 overall a year ago, the Warriors picked up steam in the middle of last September to win 10 of their final 14 matches.

That confidence, paired with the success of its 15-0 junior varsity team, makes Weddington one of North Carolina’s youngest and most talented teams as the season gets underway.

On Thursday, the schedule does not get any easier. Defending 3A state champion Kings Mountain, who swept away East Lincoln on Tuesday night, pays visit for the Warriors’ home opener.

Cox Mill has a quick turnaround as it hits the road on Wednesday and Thursday to play at Hough and Northern Guilford.

Source: highschoolot.com