GARNER - The Warriors fell in the first round of the state playoffs to Hoggard, Wilmington, Saturday but the three-game Hoggard sweep couldn't have been nearly as painful to the East Wake group as when it faced Garner in the second round of the conference tournament last Monday.

The Trojans completed a three-game swing after East Wake had gone up two games to none to stay alive in last Monday's semifinal round of the Greater Neuse River Conference volleyball tournament.

The No. 1 Garner squad didn't look like itself when the No. 4 Warriors produced a convincing 25-10 win in the first game. Rather than succumb to the shock, the home team took an 8-1 lead in game two, but East Wake also refused to budge.

A pair of Melissa Cochran spikes followed by one down the line from Veronica Stansberry led to a 17-13 Warrior lead, and eventually the 25-17 win to put East Wake just one game away from pulling off the upset.

After seeing the best and worst of starts from the Trojans, it appeared East Wake would feel match victory knocking on its door with the teams tied at 8, 15, 23, and then 24 in game three, but the Warriors didn't capitalize. They failed to return the next-to-last point that set Garner freshman Kristen Powell up with a game-winning block on Cochran and the 25-24 victory.

Momentum then took a serious turn in favor of the home team. Up 5-3 at the start of game four, Garner junior Halie Warner aced the beginning of her 6-point serve streak as the Trojans jumped out to an 11-3 lead. From that point East Wake failed to make the consistant plays that help it win the first two, and the Trojans added company to that misery.

Garner senior Kasey Hamrick aced five straight times from 17-9 to 22-9, and the 25-10 mauling East Wake dished out earlier was returned to sender when Warrior Vanessa Aguirre's game point serve never crossed the net.

In the 15-point final game the Trojans rode their emotional high and took advantage of the Warriors' lows to advance to the championship game.

Powell's opening serves led to a 4-0 lead, and Garner errors would give East Wake 2 of its 5 points in the 15-5 loss. Cochran recorded a block and a kill, and Warrior freshman Shakerrya Morrison spiked to the left corner for the visitors' final point of the afternoon. Garner junior Anna Burton ended the game and match on an unanswered serve.

"That was a hard one to lose," East Wake coach Susan Wall said. "We played so well the first few games. I think they lost their confidence after that third game loss."

Wall said it came down to the team trying to recover, but finding it more challenging than enjoyable as things became more and more tense.