North Cobb Falls to Harrison in Final 4

will play for the state AAAAA volleyball championship Saturday, but couldn’t have come closer to toppling the top-ranked Lady Hoyas in Wednesday’s semifinal.

The fourth match of the season between the Acworth-area rivals was the best, a 2½-hour, five-set epic that Harrison finally won, 34-32, 25-21, 24-26, 23-25, 15-13, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

Harrison won the first match of the year between the schools Sept. 13, 2-0, then North Cobb won the second Sept. 24, 2-1.

The Lady Hoyas captured the Area 5-AAAAA championship Oct. 8 with a straight-sets win over the Lady Warriors, 25-17, 25-19, 25-20, according to Georgia Prep Country.

All of those clashes were in West Cobb and left Harrison ranked No. 1 and North Cobb No. 2 in the PrepCountry.com/GACA coaches poll heading into the Georgia High School Association playoffs.

But the teams had to travel to Lilburn to play Wednesday’s Final Four match at .

The Lady Warriors were down 20-14 in the third set and facing a 3-0 defeat in their first Final Four appearance when they rallied to push the Lady Hoyas to the five-set limit, the MDJ said.

North Cobb finishes the year with a 48-10 record, according to Georgia Prep Country.

Harrison, now 45-4 and seeded second, will play top-seeded , the defending state AAAAA champion, for the title Saturday at 7 p.m. at . Walton hasn’t lost a set during the playoffs.

GHSA.tv will webcast the championship match live.

If you go to Marietta High, admission is $7 for the day, which includes Greater Atlanta Christian vs. Eagles Landing Christian at 11 a.m. for the AA/A title, St. Pius X vs. Sandy Creek at 1:30 p.m. for the AAA title, and (the only Georgia team other than North Cobb to beat Harrison this year) vs. Whitewater at 4 p.m. for the AAAA title.

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