Lexington volleyball’s state title aspirations came to a halt Wednesday after the Wildcats fell to Wando 3-2 in the third round of the South Carolina High School League 5A state tournament. 

The Wildcats were looking to advance to the state semifinals and eventually make it back to the state title game after losing to Mauldin High School in the 2022 championship. 

“It’s very heartbreaking, especially for the seniors,” Lexington head coach Eric Shick said. “We just didn't play great and Wando played very good. So it's on us.”

Wednesday’s game was a rematch of the 2022 semifinal between the two schools, which Lexington won 3-1. This time, the results did not favor the Wildcats. 

Things were looking good for Lexington at the start of the match. The Wildcats dominated the first set, winning it 25-16. But from there, things got tight. 

The second set was back-and-forth, with both teams exchanging blows. Lexington seemed to begin pulling away by building a four-point lead, but Wando fought back to tie the set at 19. From there, Wando outscored the Wildcats 6-3 to even the game at a set apiece. 

“They hit really well, they had a bunch of kills on us, and then we helped them out with blocking errors and serving errors,” Shick said.

The intensity started to rise in the third and fourth set. Both teams and their fans displayed more emotion as the game went on. 

Lexington had to play from behind in both of these sets. Shick said it was their own mistakes that put the team down early. 

“We had a game plan of what we needed to do, and in the end, we didn't do it well enough,” Shick said. “I told the juniors and everybody else, ‘It's a lesson that it's good to learn, feel this pain. So next year, you'll stick with the game plan and do your jobs, and hopefully, you can win.’”

The Wildcats trailed the third set by multiple scores most of the way after Wando jumped out to a 6-3 lead. But the team didn’t quit and tied the set at 16. 

The teams then traded points three more times to tie the set at 19. Lexington took control and closed the set on a 6-0 run to pull within one set of the win. 

The fourth set was very similar to the third. Lexington found itself down early with a much steeper hole to dig out of, trailing 6-1. 

Lexington struck back with an 8-3 run to tie the set at nine. A slightly rebuilt Wando lead was soon wiped away again when the Wildcats tied the set at 16. The first lead in the set for the Wildcats came on the next serve after a Wando fault. 

The team built a 23-21 lead and appeared to be moments away from a trip to the semifinals, but after a timeout, Wando flipped a switch. The Warriors' front blockers came up big and helped spark a 4-0 run to end the set and tie the match at two points. 

“They did a good job,” Shick said. “We fight hard all the time for it. I wish we could have done some things differently, but there’s a couple of calls that went the wrong way, but, you know, that's volleyball.”

The final set started competitive but in the end, Lexington was gassed. After an 8-8 tie in the set, Wando outscored the Wildcats 7-1 to win the match and the trip to the state semifinals. 

“We made way too many mistakes,” Shick said. We missed four serves in the fifth set to 15. Can't do that”

It was a bittersweet ending to a strong season for the Wildcats. Lexington won its region after going undefeated, (8-0), and finished its regular season with a (35-9-2) record. 

In the end, the Wildcats still came up short of its goal. Shick said he hopes it provides next year's group some motivation. 

“I can only hope they want to come back hungry,” Shick said. “It's always the goal.”

River Bluff also knocked out

River Bluff was also eliminated from the 5A state tournament in the third round after dropping its match on the road 3-2 to Rock Hill High School. 

The Gators scored the game's first points after Rock Hill spiked a ball out-of-bounds. However, River Bluff would go on to drop the set 25-19 after Rock Hill took control. 

River Bluff came back from five points down to win the second set 25-16. But the third set was the most lopsided as Rock Hill defeated the Gators 25-11. 

Facing elimination, River Bluff won the next set 25-21 to keep its season alive and tie the match at two sets each. 

The Gators lost the deciding set 15-10 and finished their season in the third round of the playoffs for the second year in a row.