After competing in the region tournament at Allatoona on Oct. 11 and 13, the Woodland Lady Wildcats headed back home after a loss to North Paulding ended their season

While on their fall break, the Woodland volleyball team traveled to Allatoona High School along with all the other schools in the 5-AAAAA region to compete for four spots in the state tournament.

Woodland played five teams over two days — New Manchester, Allatoona, East Paulding, South Paulding and North Paulding. They only lost to Allatoona and North Paulding — the top two seeds in the region.

Before the tournament began, head volleyball coach David Condon said, “If we do make [the state playoffs], the feeling will be one of the best feelings I’ve ever had as a coach since no Woodland team has ever accomplished that goal.”

Condon knew his team would play New Manchester first and he believed his team was ready for them.

“We have a good level of confidence against New Manchester because we won our match against them earlier this season, but we still have to play well against them. We can lose to anyone in our region if we don’t play well,” Condon said.

Woodland defeated New Manchester in the first match, 2-1 and went on to play Allatoona, losing 2-0. For the last match of the day, Woodland defeated East Paulding, 2-1.

On day two, Woodland began its day by defeating South Paulding 2-0. Their final match came against North Paulding as they fell 2-0, ending their chance at a state berth.

While the team did not make it to state, there were some players who stood out and made put up some good numbers.

The team’s statistical leader is Bradley Sabin who led the team in kills with 202, leads in digs with 164, had 36 aces, 24 blocks and seven assists. Sabin also had a serve efficiency of 90 percent and a receive efficiency of 85 percent.

Other team leaders were senior Anna Steiger, junior Marissa Dubose and sophomore Ashlyn Warner.

Steiger finished the season with 398 assists, 60 digs, 25 aces, 35 kills and 92 percent serve efficiency. Dubose closed out the year with 112 kills, 64 aces, 95 digs, 30 blocks and 12 assists. Warner wrapped up the season with 89 kills, 46 aces, 80 digs, 72 blocks and 17 assists.

DuBose, Warner and many of the other players will have another chance to get to state, but for the seniors, they gave it a great shot, and just fell a little short.