By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — One serve that was ruled in by a half-inch probably saved East Rowan’s volleyball team on Wednesday in a wild, 26-28, 26-24, 25-20 and 25-23 win against visiting Salisbury.
After dropping an intense first set, East Rowan was on the ropes in the second set, down 24-23, when senior Avery Wright came through with a clutch kill for 24-all.
Then Courtney Wagner stepped to the service line, drilled the ball deep toward the back line. Fans of both teams cheered, certain they had the tie-breaking point. It was that close.
East got the call and the lead. Then Wagner mashed another wicked serve that was clearly in, and East had pulled out the set and evened the match. That was the turning point, but it was never routine for the Mustangs (2-0), who also had their hands full in beating North Rowan, 3-1, on Monday.
“Right now, we’re doing one good thing and then three bad things,” East coach Sandy Basinger said. “We’re just not fluid. We’re working hard, but we’re killing ourselves with unforced errors. We just need to settle down and play.”
Salisbury’s Juliana Anderson earned conference and Rowan County Player of the Year honors a year ago as a sophomore, while East Rowan senior Brittany Small is defending 3A state champ in the indoor high jump, as well as a perennial all-county volleyball pick.
Both are tall, both can bounce off the floor and both hit with power, and they staged quite a duel above the net. Small had 21 kills. Anderson totaled 22 kills and five aces.
“East had some good runs and we got a little down,” Anderson said. “Staying together as a team is what we need to work on the most and we will. We did have some of the young girls (notably freshman Lila Harry) step up today. That was good to see.”
Anderson had six kills and four aces in the opening set, while Harry produced huge kills for 24-all and 26-25, before Anderson delivered the game-winning kill. New setter Lora Withers had 17 assists for the Hornets.
Small and Wright combined for 10 kills, mostly on sets by Jordan McCall, as the Mustangs prevailed in the second set.
Back-to-back early aces by McCall propelled the Mustangs to a victory in the third set.
“It was kind of a crazy day with controversial calls both ways,” McCall said. “We didn’t play that great, but different people kept coming in and helping us out. That’s why we got the win.”
Salisbury’s Makayla Dillon served four aces in the fourth set, but Small countered with four of her own.
East trailed 21-20 late in that final set, but McCall, Small, Wright, Leah Wyrick and freshman Baleigh Hill made plays down the stretch. A dig and pinpoint pass by Hill led to the match-clinching point.
“We fought as hard as we could, but a couple of key points decided it their way,” Salisbury coach Mallory Hodge said. “When teams are that evenly matched, it’s just a really tough loss and the way the NCHSAA is doing things now, even the non-conference losses hurt.”
It was a day that could’ve leaned either way, but it was the Mustangs who left with smiles.
“We found out when we lost that first set that we had to play harder and we had to play together more,” said Wright, who had nine kills. “And that’s what happened.”