GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan’s volleyball team won’t be going to the state playoffs, but you can’t judge the book by its cover.

Sandy Basinger’s been around Mustang volleyball for a long time — first as a player, now as a coach— and she has no doubts this has been one of East’s best teams and finest seasons.

“If we were still in our old conference, we’d be on top,” sighed Basinger after her team whipped A.L. Brown 15-9, 15-1 and 15-6 at the East gym on Thursday.

When East wiped out the Wonders, it kept alive its slender hopes of making the state playoffs. But those postseason dreams were dashed on the rocks of disappointment when second-place Statesville won at Northwest Cabarrus an hour later.

With one 3A North Piedmont Conference match left to play, East stands at 6-5. It’s destined, at best, for a tie for third. Not good enough in a league that gets only two playoff berths.

Basinger, who graduated from East in 1988 (she was Rowan County’s co-athlete of the year for her deeds in basketball, softball and volleyball), can remember only three or four occasions in the last 15 years when her school’s missed the postseason party.

But the Mustangs can live with this one. You can do that when you’ve taken your best shot.

What happened? Basically, realignment spiked the Mustangs right in the face.

There are football conferences and there are basketball conferences and there are baseball conferences. But you can make an argument that the new NPC is the ultimate volleyball conference.

Five of the seven member schools— everyone except West Rowan and A.L. Brown — made the state playoffs a year ago. All three of the Iredell teams new to East’s schedule— Mooresville, North Iredell and Statesville — are beasts.

League champ North Iredell is unbeaten. Statesville (8-3) is strong. Mooresville (7-4), which could still tie Statesville for second, won a state championship a few years ago.

It’s no major mystery why Iredell teams are usually superior to local squads.

“The teams that have come into our league, they have middle school volleyball programs,” pointed out East sophomore Maggie Rich.

“You can really see the difference in jayvees,” said Basinger. “Their kids have been playing two or three years. Ours have been playing two or three weeks.”

For East (as well as West and A.L. Brown), this conference season’s been like spotting an opponent 100 yards on an uphill mile run.

So maybe the surprise isn’t that the Mustangs came up short. Instead, it’s that they managed to make things interesting to the last week. East split with Statesville, Mooresville and long-time rival Northwest. The only team East didn’t beat was North Iredell, and those matches were competitive.

East was able to bridge most of the experience gap because of the three T’s — teamwork, togetherness and talent.

“We are lucky enough to have some great athletes,” said Basinger. “We started three sophomores and that’s rare on a good team. We have a chance to be incredibly great two years down the road.”

East’s top seven — seniors Sarah Ivey, Haley Shaw, Michelle Haynes and Ciji Cress, and those super sophomores, Tiffany Ingold, Jordan Huffman and Rich — are basketball teammates.

As you might expect, they have plenty of height — that wonderful commodity that can’t be taught. Rich, Huffman and Haynes will probably form the Mustang basketball team’s starting front line. The other four are agile kids with solid skills.

“We make up a pretty good team, because we like each other and like being around each other,” said Ivey. “We’re able to motivate each other.”

“Volleyball’s the most team-oriented sport there is,” explained Basinger. “It’s all about getting six individuals to become one. This group did that as well as any I’ve had. No one cared who got the credit. Everyone cared about team success.”

Basinger had a good idea just how tough this conference would be because she’d faced Iredell teams in the state playoffs in the past.

“We beat South Iredell once in five games, but they had so many good players, it was unbelievable,” said Basinger. “We had seven, maybe eight, and they’d just keep bringing in whole rows of fresh girls.”

That Iredell memory helps explain why Basinger took her team to camp in Alabama prior to the season and it’s why a group of girls known for their basketball pushed themselves to get better at a sport that’s a lot further from the limelight. They simply had zero interest in being pushovers for anyone.

“Knowing it would be tougher competition forced us all to get a lot better,” said Cress.

But no one’s questioning whether all that sweat’s been worthwhile. “The season and our new conference have boosted this program,” said Basinger. “Some years, I’d have an open gym and draw four girls. This summer I was getting 15.”

And even with the sweet music of bouncing basketballs around the corner, you get the idea that if Basinger kept erecting that net across midcourt, these girls would keep coming around.

“Oh, I know they’re excited about basketball,” Basinger said. “But they’re also volleyball players. I think they’ll miss volleyball. I know I’ll miss them. I hate to see this season end.”

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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com .