The Week in Ocracoke Sports
To start the week off, on Monday, both the middle school and high school had volleyball games. The Middle school Lady Dolphins traveled to Creswell for their last game of the season. The Dolphins played two games against the Tigers and split the games, winning one and losing the second. This wrapped up a phenomenal winning season for the middle school girls. Congratulations!
The high school ladies also saw action on the homecourt as they faced off with the Columbia Wildcats. The ladies started off the match with dominance, defeating the Wildcats in the first set. In the second set, the Dolphins and Wildcats went back and forth until the Wildcats took charge capturing the set, tying the game at 1 set a piece.
In the 3rd set of the game, with inspiration from Coach Charles Temple, the Lady Dolphins won the 3rd set. In the 4th set the Dolphins were back and forth the entire set, at the end of the set the Wildcats escaped with a small victory winning the set, narrowly escaping defeat. The 5th set of a volleyball game only goes to 15 points instead of 25. In this set the Dolphins had more mental errors than anything. The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead, and that would be the determining factor in the game. The Dolphins were close to winning, but not close enough. Although it was a heartbreaking loss, the fact that it was Senior Night lightened the mood.
It was Senior Night for fall sports – Cross Country and Volleyball. Abigail Morris is the only senior on the cross country team – she was escorted by her mother, Sandy Morris, and has run cross country all four years of high school. The volleyball team has 3 seniors: Katie O’Neal, Lucy O’Neal, and Samantha Styron. Katie O’Neal was escorted by her mother and father, Sue and Vince O’Neal. Lucy O’Neal was escorted by her mother and father, Tina Robinson and Ikey O’Neal. And finally Samantha Styron was escorted by her parents, David and Kari Styron. All three girls have played volleyball for all three years that the sport has been at our school.
On Tuesday, the Cross Country team hosted their only home cross country race, and the High school volleyball team hosted Plymouth. The cross country race which took place down South Point Road was the first race of the year on Ocracoke. Kevin Perez placed first in the men’s category as you would have thought, and the Boys team placed 1st. Also Kevin’s sister Karen Perez placed 1st in the girl’s race, and Abigail Morris followed her at 2nd place.
Simultaneously as the race was taking place, the Lady Dolphins took on Coastal 10 opponents, the Plymouth Vikings. Plymouth being one of the largest schools in the conference, it was a daunting task for the ladies, but they are ready to take on anything. The Vikings took the first set, but that did not let the Dolphins' hopes down as they won the 2nd set of the game. The Dolphins fought hard but the Vikings would go on to win the rest of the sets winning the game.
On Thursday, the cross country and volleyball teams were both back in action, taking on Manteo. The cross country team headed up to Manteo to race in another Coastal 10 conference race. There are not many races left this year and the Dolphins' times are improving tremendously as the year goes on. Many of the runners are very familiar with the course at Manteo and were determined to race as hard as they can. In this race once again Perez took 1stoverall place, running in the 17’s! Almost all the Dolphin runners ran personal bests for this race, including Evin Caswell who dropped his time by close to a minute. In the girls' race, once again Karen Perez and Abigail Morris placed 1st and 2nd.
It’s a good thing everyone is great at running this course because the next two races are taking place at Manteo, the conference championship (October 14th) and regionals (October 25th.)
In the last home game of the season the Volleyball team hosted the Manteo Redskins for the 3rd game of the week. Both physically and mentally exhausted the Dolphins struggled against the Redskins. The Dolphins fought as hard as they could but the Redskins won all 3 sets. This was not exactly the best way for the Dolphins to finish their games at home, but they will have a chance to redeem themselves as they play Gates County this week.
