The Lakewood Lady Leopards volleyball team opened up their 2021 NCHSAA 1A Playoff run on Saturday afternoon. A virtue of their No. 15 seed, Lakewood played host to No. 18 seed Bear Grass Charter. The Lady Leopards seized the day in the opening round and sent the Lady Bears back home with a 3-0 loss, ending their season.

The Lady Leopards started hot, racing out to a 6-0 lead before the Lady Bears could even catch their breath. Bear Grass Charter did settle down from there, though, and actually rallied to tie things up at at 6-all. Lakewood, though, recaptured their earlier momentum to claim set one, 25-15.

Trailing 1-0, the Lady Bears made things quite uncomfortable for the higher seed Lady Leopards in the second frame.

Lakewood had amassed a 17-11 advantage over Bear Grass, which necessitated the use of a timeout by the Lady Bears. Coming out of the break it was all-Bear Grass Charter, who tied the set at 22-apiece.

The Lady Bears were unable to complete the comeback, however, falling behind by two sets, 25-23.

Having survived the stiffest challenge yet from Bear Grass, Lakewood played their best volleyball during the third set. The Lady Leopards routed Bear Grass from start to finish and seized the victory, 25-9, to secure a berth in the round of 32.

Sara Teasdale led Lakewood with twelve kills in the match. Harley Matthews was not far behind with nine of her own and Lakewood sophomore Danica Carter accumulated ten digs in the match.

With a first round win in hand, Lakewood now moves into second round action. The Lady Leopards next opponent is conference foe Neuse Charter. Neuse and Lakewood met twice earlier in the season, with the Lady Cougars winning both contests. Game time is slated for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Neuse Charter.

Reach Sports Editor Daron Barefoot at [email protected].