Shane Slate's volleyball teams at North Surry have routinely made deep inroads in the NCHSAA 2-A playoffs, and this season, the Greyhounds have yet to find a hurdle they couldn't clear.
North will take the last step toward an unbeaten season and the first volleyball championship in school history at 2:30 Saturday when it plays Hillsborough Cedar Ridge at N.C. State's Reynolds Coliseum. North Surry is 32-0; Cedar Ridge is 24-6.
"I felt like we were a team that should be in the conversation," Slate said. "I wouldn't have said we would be in the finals, but I thought if we played well we were capable of making a run. I certainly wouldn't have said we would be 32-0. That part still has me stunned a little bit. But the two or three questions we had about how good we would be were answered early on and answered in a positive manner."
The Greyhounds lost only three games in the playoffs, including two in a harrowing 3-2 quarterfinal win over Newton-Conover. They beat Randleman 3-0 in a semifinal to reach the state final for the first time since 1988.
Slate said that Newton-Conover gave North the kind of close match it hadn't seen in a while.
"That was certainly a question that we had," Slate said. "We were a little unsure, we had a couple of four-game matches and had been into some tight matches, but it's not the same as being in a fifth game.
"It answered some things. Could we handle the pressure?
mlinker@wsjournal.com
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