Rockets sweep Red Rams for conference title

Mason: “They don’t quit”

By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com

ROCKINGHAM — Up two games to none and a four-point lead in game three, Rockingham Middle School volleyball coach Teresa Mason knew it was no time to rest.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Rockingham’s Jayden Johnson sends the ball back towards the net after going to the corner to keep the ball in play.

Her players knew it, too.

Though Hamlet worked its way back to knot the third game 18-18, the host Rockets held on to win game three, 25-23, and pull off a sweep of the Red Rams to win the Southeastern Middle School Conference championship Thursday afternoon in Rockingham.

The Rockets won 25-17, 25-13 and 25-23. In the third and final game, the Red Rams tied the game at 18 points apiece and then fought back from a 23-20 deficit to pull within one, at 24-23. But the winning point was awarded to Rockingham when a Hamlet player’s return went into the net.

Taliah Wall led the Rockets with 22 service points, followed by 13 apiece for Savannah Lampley, Kayla Hawkins and Jayden Johnson. Allexis Swinney added five points, followed by Madison Jordan (four), Chloe McLaughlin (three) and Savannah Chappell (two).

“They just never cease to amaze me,” said Mason of a team who never gave up during the season, which the Rockets finished with a 12-1 record. Hamlet finished 9-3, with all three of its losses against Rockingham. The Red Rams lost a tiebreaker to the Rockets a week ago to decide the regular season champion.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Savannah Chappell, left, embraces Savannah Lampley after the winning point was awarded in the Rockets’ sweep of the visiting Red Rams.

Mason said she wasn’t worried when the Red Rams knotted the third game at 12-all, then again 18-18. Her players, she said, knew what to do. And they did it.

“They don’t quit,” Mason said. “That is one thing that makes us who we are.”

Hamlet coach Anna Cloninger declined comment after the match.