By David Rogers. RALEIGH, N.C. — It was a comeback win deserving of a post-match celebratory dogpile at center court.
After Watauga women’s volleyball captured the first two “nail biter” sets on Nov. 1 at Reynolds Coliseum, J.H. Rose (Greenville, N.C.) stormed back to take the final three “cliffhanger” sets to be crowned the 2025 NCHSAA 6A Women’s Volleyball champions, 3-2 (26-28, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-7).
Whether you were rooting for the Pioneers or the Rampants, the see-saw, back and forth action was enough to grind your teeth down to their nubs.
It’s a fact of life in any competition. There may be “ties” now in the NFL, but only winners and losers in North Carolina high school volleyball. The state championship final match between 6A West champion (Watauga) and 6A East (J.H. Rose) featured 20 lead changes and 46 tie scores across the five-set thriller. Certainly, it is hard to call anyone a lost cause. A break here or there, a reversed call undone, a ball hitting “in” instead of “just out”… and you might have a different final result. All credit to J.H. Rose for the team’s resilience in not panicking after losing the opening two sets.
In the beginning, the Rampants didn’t seem to have an answer for the Pioneers’ dynamic outside hitter, senior Emma Pastusic. As the match wore on, they were better positioned to block or dig those powerful Pastusic smashes.
“We knew Watauga had a strong outside hitter,” Rose libero Caroline Bayes noted in the post-match press conference.
If there was any fear in that knowledge, it didn’t show. While Pastusic recorded a game-high 31 kills, Bayes was the match-high leader in digs, with 25, and the team-high leader in serve receptions, with 39.
Testimony to the strong defensive effort Watauga recorded, the quartet of Carolina Childers, Ashlyn Smith. Lilli Combs and Emma Pastusic combined for 72 of the team’s 86 digs on the night to keep the ball in play, most of the attacks coming off the arm of match MVP and Rampants senior outside hitter Clara Evans.
More than in any other recent match, the Pioneers were more active at the net, defensively, including nine total team blocks. Senior middle blocker Kora Knight’s four solo blocks led the way, with one solo and two assisted blocks each by junior outside hitter Julia Rowan and sophomore middle blocker Addie Stough.
J.H. Rose has been in Watauga’s shoes in recent years, including runner-up to West Henderson, 3-1, in the 2024 3A state championship under the old classifications. In 2023, they lost in the 3A East final to Orange, 3-1. In 2022, they lost to the 3A West’s North Iredell in the state championship match, in a 5-set thriller. And in the 2021 state playoffs, they lost, 3-0, to Cedar Ridge in the 3A West final.
Post-match, Rampants senior Mia Kendrick said that even in losing the first two sets, her team channeled the disappointment and frustration of the last few years with the knowledge they could come back and win, which they did.
SELECTED INDIVIDUAL STATS
Kills
- WAT – Emma Pastusic, 31
- JHR – Clara Evans, 26
- JHR – Mia Kendrick, 15
- WAT – Ashlyn Smith, 12
- JHR – Kate Wallen, 11
- WAT – Kora Knight, 9
- WAT – Julia Rowan, 7
Service Aces
- WAT – Ashlyn Smith, 3
- JHR – Anna Price Duke, 3
- JHR – Caroline Bayes, 3
- JHR – Mia Kendrick, 3
- JHR – Clara Evans, 2
- JHR – Breanna Joyner, 2
- JHR – Jamy Howard, 2
- WAT – Emma Pastusic, 1
- WAT – Graycie Collins, 1
- WAT – Lainey Gragg, 1
Assists
- WAT – Lainey Gragg, 53
- JHR – Breanna Joyner, 27
- JHR – Campbell Rhodes, 22
- JHR – Caroline Bayes, 5
Digs
- JHR – Caroline Bayes, 25
- WAT – Lilli Combs, 24
- WAT – Caroline Childers, 23
- JHR – Clara Evans, 16
- WAT – Emma Pastusic, 13
- WAT – Ashlyn Smith, 12
- JHR – Breanna Joyner, 9
- WAT – Lainey Gragg, 8
- JHR – Madison Long, 7
Blocks
- WAT – Kora Knight, 4 solo
- JHR – Maya Swaggerty, 2 solo
- JHR – Jamy Howard, 2 solo, 1 block assist
- JHR – Kate Wallen, 1 solo
- WAT – Julia Rowan, 1 solo, 2 block assist
- WAT – Addie Stough, 1 solo, 2 block assist
- WAT – Lainey Gragg, 1 solo
Serve Receives
- WAT – Caroline Childers, 45
- JHR – Caroline Bayes, 39
- WAT – Ashlyn Smith, 24
- JHR – Clara Evans, 23
- WAT – Emma Pastusic, 18
- JHR – Anna Price Duke, 16
- JHR – Kate Wallen, 5
