RALEIGH, N.C. — West Henderson is on the mountaintop in more ways than one.

The Falcons won the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3A volleyball championship game in a four-set battle against J.H. Rose on Saturday at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum by a 3-1 score (19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20).

Both programs entered the match with extensive championship pedigrees, each having made it to the title match in the previous five seasons. Yet, both had been shut out of winning it all over the last nine years and were hoping to reach the state’s summit once again.

West Henderson (26-2), the No. 1 seed from the West, was making its 12th appearance in a volleyball state championship match, looking for a sixth title but first since 2008. Their only losses this year came in best-of-3 matches at Kings Mountain’s Mountaineer Invitational.

Both teams also featured two of the state’s best players in West Henderson’s Emma Bryson and J.H. Rose’s Clara Evans.

In the end, there was just a little too much Bryson, the game’s MVP. She had 15 kills and four blocks.

“We’ve played with each other for so long we know that … once we go on a roll, we know we got it and our teammates Have got our backs,” Bryson said.

Evans, a TCU beach volleyball recruit, and Bryson, a Georgia recruit, each established themselves early in their unique ways. For Evans, it was thunderous kills from the net or back row, and for the 6-foot-3 Bryson they were towering shots that found open space against one of the top defenses in 3A.

Evans paced the Rampants with 27 kills and 17 digs.

Despite Evans and Bryson’s skill, both sides were going to need others to step up to win it all.

Rose jumped out in the first set and, though it had a slim lead throughout, it didn’t fall behind either, a testament to all-around defense and passing typified by libero Annie Price Duke. The Rampants took it 25-19.

In the second set, West Henderson setter Holland Corbin began to spread it around to other Falcons, who led 14-10 about halfway through. The two teams went back-and-forth, but hitter Isabella Baylor helped the Falcons pull away with a matching 25-19 score.

Baylor had 11 kills, as did Marley Orr. Corbin had 39 assists and Allyson Garcia had 27 digs.

In the third set, again the two sides traded short runs. West Henderson led 17-13 late, but Rose wouldn’t go away as Rose’s Kate Wallen got back-to-back kills to cut it to 18-17 and force a West Henderson timeout. The Falcons got a few crushing kills from Bryson, and some deft ball movement from Corbin, and West Henderson won the set 25-19 to lead the match 2-1.

It was the kind of improvement mid-match you would expect from a team that made a leap from going 19-13 in 2023.

“We grew and we believed in each other and we worked as a team,” West Henderson coach Tiffany Lowrance said.

The Falcons led 13-10 early in the fourth set, but four straight points from the Rampants gave the lead back to Rose, 14-13. West Henderson responded with its own spurt to lead 16-14, and Rose called timeout. Rose cut the lead to 22-20, but a tip by Corbin, followed by an ace, followed by a kill from Baylor closed out the match.

It was the perfect end to a season with imperfections caused by Hurricane Helene. West Henderson didn’t practice for two weeks and players were without some combination of power, cell service, and/or internet for days. The time away helped give a hyperfocus to the team’s ultimate goal of winning it all — nothing was taken for granted anymore.

“I know it was a disaster for all of us, but they were itching to get back in the gym,” Lowrance said. “We were itching just to be normal, and it was great that we came out of it on a positive note.”

Rose (23-5), the No. 1 seed in the East, was making its sixth appearance in the state final and was looking for its fourth title overall and first since 2014. Two of the Rampants’ four regular season losses came to 4A semifinalist D.H. Conley, another to No. 1 2A East seed Ayden-Grifton, and a conference foe South Central.

Caroline Bayes had 32 assists and 14 digs. Wallen had nine kills and two blocks.

Rose can already look forward with eagerness to next season — the team has no seniors.

“Hopefully we’ll be right back in this position,” Rose coach Ginny Howard said. “In my head, the job’s not done.”

Before the game, J.H. Rose’s Duke and West Henderson’s Melea Humiston were named NCHSAA sportsmanship award winners.