After 78 minutes of scoreless soccer, The O'Neal School's boys' soccer team was unable to hold off St. David's in the closing minutes of Tuesday's home nonconference match, losing 1-0.

St. David's Brett Griffith scored the game-winner in the 79th minute, finding the upper left corner of the net.

Falcons head coach Ted Hassenfelt thought his team didn't play together as a team enough during the match.

"A little too much individual effort, trying to dribble through the entire team," he said. "I think if we would have done a little bit better of a job of keeping the ball once we got it, I think it could have been a different outcome.

"[St. David's] is a solid team. They're a little bit banged up, but I thought that if we would have possessed it a little bit better ... I thought if we shared the ball a little bit more we could have put some in the back of the net."

Both teams had scoring chances throughout the game, but O'Neal keeper Brandt Davis and St. David's keeper Avery Varley kept the scoreboard blank with some nice saves. "Normally we put a few of those in the net, so I'm happy about those opportunities," Hassenfelt said. "I think if we just shared it a little bit more, I think we probably could have increased those opportunities and then we would have had a better chance of putting one of those in the net."

The loss drops O'Neal to 6-3 on the season (1-0 Cape Fear Independent Conference). The Falcons opened conference play last week with a 2-0 home victory over Cape Fear Academy.

O'Neal has nine days off before traveling to Fayetteville Academy next Thursday.

"For the next nine days, we're going to work on making sure that we spend our energy keeping the ball as opposed to chasing it and having to get it back," he said. "We spend so much energy defending, so we just give the ball way too easily. The next nine days we're going to work on making sure that we keep that ball. We can switch point of attack a lot and then go to goal with it."

SCC Volleyball Wins Three Straight

The Sandhills Community College volleyball team won both games of a doubleheader against Wytheville at home Sunday and topped Louisburg in a home match Wednesday.

The Flyers won Wednesday's match 25-15, 25-9, 25-17.

Miranda Love led the team in kills with 11, while Sarah Thomas registered nine. Paige Horne and Alisha Ritter each had 20 assists.

Michelle Brown had four aces, while Sarah Thomas had three. Samantha Morgan had 16 digs and Katie McKenzie had 14.

"The girls did a great job last night," coach Alicia Hill said. "They were having fun and getting into their own rhythm. There is always a comfort in playing at home on your court and in front of a packed gym supporting you."

In the first match of Sunday's doubleheader, the Flyers won 25-22, 25-17, 25-12 and in match two, they won 25-19, 25-12, 25-23.

In the first game, Love tallied 18 kills followed by Thomas with nine. Horne led the way in the assists category with 21, followed by Ritter with 10. Morgan and Mandy Blair each registered four services aces.

McKenzie had 13 digs, while Love had 11.

In the second match, Thomas had nine kills while Love had eight. Ritter had 12 assists, followed by Horne with 11. Blair had five service aces while Horne had four. Jessica Marion had a team-high 17 digs. Thomas had 13.

"The girls did a great job on Sunday considering playing back to back and two games that week before," Hill said. "Wytheville is a new team joining our conference so we had no idea what to expect. It was a great opportunity to try different girls at different positions and to let everyone play."

The Flyers are now 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play. They face Rockingham Community College on the road tonight.

UP Girls' Tennis 7-0

Still unbeaten on the year, the Union Pines girls' tennis team picked up a pair of 9-0 Cape Fear Valley Conference wins over Southern Lee and Westover to run its record to 7-0.

With Wednesday's victory, Union Pines is now 6-0 in league play as Laura Cameron became the fourth Lady Viking to reach the career 30-win plateau. Cameron is 31-5.

Union Pines swept Westover in Cameron Tuesday. In that tilt, sophomores Melissa Tally (43-4) and Madison Kramer (43-3) both reached the 40 wins in their Union Pines careers.

The Lady Vikes were back in action Thursday in a nonconference match against Asheboro. Currently seventh in the North Carolina High School Tennis Coaches Association's 3-A top 10 poll, Union Pines hosts Pinecrest at 4:30 p.m. Monday, at the John S. Frye Tennis Facility.

O'Neal Netters Fall

St. David's defeated The O'Neal School varsity volleyball team Tuesday night in three games, 25-13, 25-2 and 27-25.

Jackie Chamberlain had four solo blocks and three kills, KellyAnn Miller had four service aces and 14 assists, and Katie Tighe had 4 kills.

Coach Kendall Harper said her team worked hard in the third game and was impressed with Chamberlain's effort.

"Jacke stepped up to a new level of play," she said. "Her blocks raised her team's excitement level."

She added that the first two games were lost because of a lack of passing off of serves and not playing aggressively.

The Falcons entertain Flora McDonald at 4 p.m. Thursday.

PHS Lady Golfers Win

Sophomore Hailey Crider earned medalist honors for the second week in a row with a round of 80 as the Pinecrest girls' golf team prevailed at Bayonet at Puppy Creek in Raeford Tuesday afternoon.

Teammate Savannah Thompson finished one stroke back with an 81 in the second Southeastern Conference match of the season. Haley Robinson with a 96 and Becky Anderson with 103 completed the Patriots' first place team score of 360. Emily Smith of Richmond shot an 83 for the third best score of the day.

The other team scores were: Scotland County, 380, Richmond Senior, 423 and Hoke County, 510. Scotch Meadows in Laurinburg will be the site of the next league match on Monday.

Vike Kickers Still Winless

When Union Pines opens its Cape Fear Valley Conference soccer campaign Monday against Overhills, the Vikes will do so without yet scratching the win column.

After a 6-1 loss to Hoke County at Union Pines on Wednesday the Vikings are now 0-3-2 on the year. The visiting Bucks (8-1-0) controlled every aspect of the nonconference match, taking a 4-0 lead into halftime.

Senior Allen Cha broke up the shutout when he got Union Pines on the board early in the second frame with a score from 17-yards out.

Cha scored both of the Vikes' goals in a 2-2 draw Tuesday with East Montgomery (5-0-1). In fact the senior captain has accounted for all four of Union Pines goals on the season as the Vikings have been outscored 22-4 thus far on the year.

However, as Union Pines now shifts into league play, the competition appears as though it will be less stringent, at least on paper.

The Vikings' five nonconference opponents are currently a combined 23-7-3, while currently the six other Cape Fear Valley schools are 8-12-10 overall, including Southern Lee (6-2-1), which was ranked in the NCSCA 3A top 10 poll to start the season.

The Vikings take on Overhills (1-3-1) at 7 p.m. Monday in Spring Lake.

Vike Netters Halt Losing Skid

The Union Pines volleyball team escaped Hope Mills with a critical five-set Cape Fear Valley Conference victory over Gray's Creek Tuesday.

With the 22-25, 26-24, 25-15, 23-25, 15-12 win, the Lady Vikings snapped a three-match losing streak and avoided an 0-2 league start. Union Pines is now 1-1 in CFV conference play and 6-3 overall.

Sophomore Brittany Erickson and junior Anna Sadler each had six kills for Union Pines, while Crystal hicks added four. Zazil Porras chipped in with three blocks and two kill for the Vikes, who were without sophomore hitter Tyler Ross.

Morgan Bridgers led Union Pines with 18 assists, while Lexi Byrd finished with a match-high 14 digs. Erickson had four digs for the Vikes while Sadler added two blocks.

Union Pines hosts conference rival Western Harnett in a league match Thursday following the junior varsity match, which starts at 4:30 p.m.

O'Neal Tennis Falls

The O'Neal School varsity girls' tennis team traveled to High Point to play Westchester Country Day School at the Willow Creek Tennis Center where they dropped a nonconference match 7-2.

In singles play, Brianna Ek lost 6-3, 6-0 to Katie Rice, Amelia Schirmer lost 6-0, 6-1 to Kristen McDowell, Victoria Scarpa lost to Taylor Freeman 6-3, 6-0, Maggie Hakas lost to Erica Sawyer 6-1, 6-0, Mary Garner lost to Olivia Greeson 7-6 (1), 6-1, Greyson Keel lost to Alex Simpson 6-3, 6-3.

The Falcons fared a little better. In doubles, Ek and Scarpa won a close match 9-7 over Rice and McDowell, while Schirmer and Garner won 8-3 over Freeman and Sawyer. Keel and Hakas dropped their match 8-4 to Greeson and Simpson.

Ally Hoehn-Saric lost 8-2 in an exhibition match against Julia Svenson.

O'Neal dropped to 1-2 while Westchester improved to 6-0.

PHS Kickers Rout Swett

The Pinecrest boys' soccer team (2-2-1) opened Southeastern Conference play with a 10-0 victory over Purnell Swett (0-2) Wednesday evening.

Gray Anderson scored three goals and was credited with two assists in the match that ended after one half under the league's 10-goal mercy rule.

The Patriots travel to Fayetteville Academy on Saturday for an 11 a.m. contest against Wilmington Hoggard.