Junior Taylor Waitley attacks the ball against two Jack Britt blockers during a Scotland win earlier this season.
                                 Neel Madhavan | Laurinburg Exchange File Photo

Junior Taylor Waitley attacks the ball against two Jack Britt blockers during a Scotland win earlier this season.

Neel Madhavan | Laurinburg Exchange File Photo

The Scotland High School volleyball team ventured north to Raleigh to face volleyball power Cardinal Gibbons Tuesday night in the first round of the East region of the 4A state volleyball playoffs.

The Lady Scots wrapped up their season, falling 3-0 to a Lady Crusaders team that finished its regular season 12-0, won the Cap-7 conference and lost just one set along the way. Scotland finishes its pandemic-affected season with an 11-3 overall record.

“We played a team that without a doubt should have been a No. 1 seed,” said Scotland head coach Mallory Wheeler. “The best team I have seen since I have been coaching at Scotland, by far. I could not find one flaw that they had. We fought, but their talent as volleyball players was leaps and bounds above us. They would annihilate Pinecrest with ease.”

Cardinal Gibbons won the first set 25-7, the second set 25-12 and the third set 25-8.

Due to the pandemic, the NCHSAA utilized predetermined brackets for volleyball this year. All conference champions were assigned a predetermined set of tournament seeds by random draw, while conference runners-up and wildcards were also assigned a predetermined set of tournament seeds by random draw. This process created the possibility of some lopsided matchups.

Wheeler said she felt Scotland was unlucky with its draw in getting a first round matchup with Cardinal Gibbons.

“I think we got kind of a crappy draw in the tournament with how well we played, but it is what it is,” Wheeler said.

Despite the loss to end the year, Wheeler said she was pleased with her squad’s performance overall this year on the court and with how they adjusted to the changes that the pandemic threw at them.

“I think our biggest deficit was not being able to play more talented teams during the non-conference preseason that we usually get to play,” she said. “I am proud that we grew as a team and learned not to fold under pressure as much as we did last year.”

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Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2671 ext. 2751 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.