NC volleyball power Cardinal Gibbons ends gutsy run from Marvin Ridge in NCHSAA 4A final

Marvin Ridge’s bid for a 4A girls volleyball state championship fell short Saturday evening, as the Mavericks fell in the finals to an iconic North Carolina prep program.

Cardinal Gibbons capped an unbeaten season by beating Marvin Ridge 3-1 for the 4A title — the 12th state volleyball championship for the Raleigh school.

The other state titles Saturday were won by teams from the West.

West Henderson downed J.H. Rose 3-1 for the 3A crown, McMichael edged Seaforth 3-2 for the 2A title, and Polk County blanked Perquimans 3-0 in 1A.

Marvin Ridge (34-4) was decisively beaten in the first set but battled the Crusaders (22-0) on nearly even terms the rest of the way at Reynolds Coliseum on the N.C. State University campus.

And in the end, Marvin Ridge earned the respect of the champions.

“Marvin Ridge was the best team we have played in a state championship in my 15 years here,” Crusaders head coach Logan Barber said. “We were fortunate to find enough points to win.”

Cardinal Gibbons won three 2A state titles from 2005-07, then added six more in 3A from 2009-14. The last five of those came with Barber as head coach. The school then moved up to 4A in 2015 and won that year, and added another title in the COVID-altered 2020-21 campaign.

Marvin Ridge was making its second appearance in the volleyball championship, after winning the 3A title in 2018.

Cardinal Gibbons’ victory extended the East’s streak of 4A volleyball state championships to 12. The last West winner to win a 4A state championship was Ardrey Kell, in 2012.

The match got off to a rocky start for the Mavericks, as Cardinal Gibbons raced to leads of 8-3, 13-4 and 17-5. Marvin Ridge righted the ship a bit but lost 25-11.

Then coach Brook Hammers’ squad rallied. The Mavs bolted to a 6-3 lead, thanks to kills by junior Natalie Unkrich and senior Kiley Petras, and built the margin to 16-8.

The Crusaders closed the gap to 22-16, but Marvin Ridge got a key kill from 6-1 sophomore Victoria Simons and won the second set 25-21.

It was only the third time this season that Cardinal Gibbons had lost a set.

“This is a gritty group,” Hammers said. “They are fighters.”

Marvin Ridge jumped to a 5-0 lead in the third set, with Unkrich scoring twice on kills, but Cardinal Gibbons went on a 16-6 run and led 16-11. The Mavericks closed to 18-17, and the rest of the set was tightly played.

With the match tied 24-24, the Crusaders’ Genevieve Harris scored two straight points for the victory.

The fourth set was close nearly all the way, and a kill by Karsyn Baylog and a block by Petras enabled Marvin Ridge to tie it at 24-all. But Mia Bell scored two straight points for the Crusaders, earning the victory.

“The third set could have gone either way, and the fourth set could have gone either way,” Hammers said. “It was a close match.”

Harris was named the match’s Most Valuable Player, and Marvin Ridge’s Katie Meewes won the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s Sportsmanship Award.