Allison Belflowers gets high for a big swing.

Allison Belflowers gets high for a big swing.

<p>Maranda Byrd, Chloe Baggett, and Makenzi Hudson hit the deck to save a hard-hit ball.</p>

Maranda Byrd, Chloe Baggett, and Makenzi Hudson hit the deck to save a hard-hit ball.

The Midway Lady Raiders had the daunting task of taking on undefeated Goldsboro this past week. Making matters worse, Midway had to at least split with Goldsboro to keep their season going into the playoffs. After splitting with East Duplin earlier in the season, the Lady Raiders had a two-game advantage for second place over ED, who had already been swept by Goldsboro. They needed to win at least one game to maintain the advantage, otherwise the two losses would pit the two teams into a tiebreaker situation.

Knowing the stakes were high and the opponent was tough the, Lady Raiders battened down the hatches and went to work and gave the Lady Cougars more than they wanted. End the in, though, Goldsboro proved to be a legit threat and defeated Midway in both games, 3-2 and 3-1.

The first contest of the week took place on Tuesday in the Cougars Den. That battle was a 5-set bloodbath that saw Goldsboro stave off the fiercest level of competition they’ve had all season.

In the first set, it looked like just another day at the office for the Lady Cougars as they cruised to a 25-13 opening set win. After that, however, the Lady Raiders stunned the opposition, posting back-to-back set wins, pulling out a 25-14 and 28-26 victory to go up 2-1.

Goldsboro stiffened, though, and rallied for consecutive wins of their own, 25-20 and 15-11, to avoid the upset and eke out the victory.

Flash forward to Thursday nights regular season finale at Midway, and the results weren’t entirely different.

In the first set, it was a game of literal swings of momentum as the lead swapped hands a few times. On the way to a 9-9 tie, the teams traded advantages before Goldsboro took the lead for good. Though they never relinquished the lead, Midway maintained pressure all the way to a final set score of 25-22.

The Lady Raiders effort wasn’t as clean as they would’ve liked in the second set as they dug themselves an early grave. Trailing 13-7, Midway signaled for a timeout in hopes of stopping the Lady Cougars intensity. It seemed to help, as the Lady Raiders got back to within 16-14 and 17-15. After a fast-paced style game by both teams brought the score to 18-15, Midway signaled for one more timeout to offer themselves a breather and to hopefully set up a positive endgame. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as Goldsboro went on to close the set out with a 25-19 victory to make it 2-0.

Now facing elimination, the Lady Raiders backs were against the wall. Knowing that their last set was possibly right in front of them, how would they respond?

The answer: Fiercely.

Midway opened the contest with a 5-0 run and went on to establish an 11-3 advantage before Goldsboro whistled for timeout. Out of the break, the Lady Cougars mounted a small rally, drawing back to within 13-9 to prompt a Lady Raiders timeout. From there, Goldsboro just looked all out of sorts and Midway stormed away. They built a big, double-digit lead as the Lady Cougars miscues piled up. They earned a 25-14 set win and stayed alive with a 2-1 score.

After that, Midway went flat in the fourth set. The roles were reversed as Goldsboro came back in full force to lay claim to a 25-12 fourth set to ice the 3-1 victory.

With that, the Lady Raiders hopes of postseason play was delivered a major setback. Prior to Thursday’s match, Midway and East Duplin had already flipped a coin to see who would get the East Central Conference No. 2 seed. The Lady Panthers won that toss, leaving the Lady Raiders likely on the outside looking in on playoffs action.

Midway finishes the regular season at 9-3 overall.

Reach Sports Editor Daron Barefoot at [email protected].