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Moving up a division isn't keeping West Henderson High from playing for another state volleyball championship.
The Falcons, who won the N.C. 2A crown last year, won the 3A West Region title Tuesday with a 3-1 win against Charlotte Catholic (23-6) on the Cougars' home floor. West Henderson (27-1) lost a game for the first time in the playoffs.
"We knew they were really good and the girls rise to the occasion against the tough teams we play," Falcons coach Jan Stanley said.
West Henderson started quickly with a 25-13 win in the first game, but Catholic roared back to take the second 25-19. The Falcons settled down and methodically imposed their will, taking the third game 25-21 and the finale 25-15.
Meredith Foster (13 kills, nine digs), Kaitlyn Burton (13 kills, eight digs, 19 assists) and Alex Stewart (54 digs) led the Falcons. West Henderson's speed and serving accuracy ultimately subdued Catholic, which made its deepest playoff run since the 2001 squad won the state title.
The Cougars won the second game and rallied to a 19-18 advantage in the third by picking up their passing, but West Henderson countered with a 7-3 run to put Catholic on the ropes.
"We never played our game," Cougars coach Tim Leary said. "We won that second game and I thought we'd get going a little bit. We normally serve for more points and we play better defense, but we just didn't.
"It wasn't for lack of effort. Everybody had their head on right. It was a little of what they did, but it was what we didn't do."
West Henderson did enough of the little things to earn another trip to the final after its toughest test of the tournament.
"We made mistakes we usually don't make, and that was because of Charlotte Catholic," Stanley said. "I'm just happy to come out of here with a win against a great team and looking forward to going to Raleigh this weekend."
