GAINESVILLE — A Pace Academy serve ticked the top of the net, gently fell between three North Hall defenders, and with it the Lady Trojans bid for a first-ever finals appearance went splat in a taut 3-1 loss (23-25, 25-14, 26-24, 26-24) to the Lady Knights Wednesday night at a raucous North Hall gym.
North Hall, the only public school left in the Class AAA bracket, came into the match with the most wins in AAA (45) in 2017 and for the first time as a slight favorite against one of the powerhouse Atlanta private schools.
Early on it looked like the Lady Trojans were more than ready for the challenge riding the big arms of seniors Melissa DeVerter and Autumn Tucker. The duo helped North Hall take a 25-23 win in game one with more than half-a-dozen kills and blocks combined.
But a flat start in game two where the Lady Trojans quickly fell behind 7-1 ended in a 25-14 win for the Lady Knights to tie the match. Games 3 and 4 were near carbon-copies of each other as Pace Academy ran out to quick leads, North Hall rallied to tie, Pace reclaimed the lead, and then the Lady Trojans held game points at 24-22 in both games.
But both times the Lady Knights, behind outside hitters Alexandra Baker and Ada Jane Agolli, rallied to win four consecutive points to take a pair of 26-24 victories and close out the match.
“We knew they were going to work the outside and I thought we did a good job defensively for most of the match,” North Hall coach Emi Hughes said. “It was there for us. We just couldn’t get that last point.”
An emotional Tucker said they left everything they had on the court.
“We may have gotten a little tight in those situations but we didn’t give the match away. We made (Pace) earn it,” she said. “Last year in the semifinals (against Westminster) we were more happy just to be there. This year I thought we came in thinking we could win and gave them a great match.”
Despite a young group, Pace Academy, which finished as the AAA state runner-up in 2016, relied on its big-game experience in the pivotal final two games.
In game three, the Lady Knights led 12-9 before a Grace Hollified block and a DeVerter slam pulled North Hall within 15-14. North Hall eventually tied the game at 19 on a Pace error and Lily Paschall capped a long rally with great dink winner for a 22-21 North Hall lead.
After Pace tied the game again, a Tucker slam between two Pace defenders gave the Lady Trojans a 24-22 lead and the serve. But Baker blasted a spike into the corner to reclaim the lead for the Lady Knights and an errant North Hall spike gave Pace a 26-24 win.
Game four saw Pace came out on fire taking a quick 5-1 lead when sophomore Lucy Ferry capped a 5-0 run with a monster spike. The Lady Knights led 11-5 before Hollified ignited a 9-3 run with a tremendous block of Baker. Madison Brock finished the run with a kill to tie the game at 14.
The teams traded points to make it 17-17 but a Tucker kill late in the game gave the Lady Trojans another 24-22 lead and the serve. But Pace used its defense with a pair of blocks to tie the game at 24 and then two consecutive service winners sealed the match.
“Autumn, and Melissa, and Lily were incredible for us,” Hughes said. “They played great defense and rallied us all night. This is the best group (of seniors) to come through the program and they left a big legacy and set a high bar.”
Tucker said they are leaving the program in good hands.
“It’s tough knowing this is the last time I’ll play on this court,” she said. “But I think the younger girls will be just fine.”
Pace Academy will play the Lovett-Westminster winner in the finals on Saturday at Holy Innocents’.
It was the second straight season North Hall has had its season ended in the semifinals but the senior class had two quarterfinals and two semifinals appearances.
