Photos: State’s best senior volleyball players compete in annual North-South All-Star games

Some of South Carolina’s best volleyball players gathered inside Brookland-Cayce’s gymnasium Nov. 18 for the annual North-South All-Star games. 

The players were selected by the South Carolina Coaches Association of Women’s Sports and split into four teams based on their school’s location and classification. Two teams were made up of senior all-stars from the 1A, 2A and 3A schools, while the other two were seniors from 4A and 5A schools. 

Four Lexington County athletes participated in Saturday’s games, all representing the southern part of the state. Chapin’s Abby Edwards and Lexington’s Sara Sykes and Kendall Vinson played on the 4A/5A south team. Gilbert’s Meredith McEnulty represented her school on the 1A/2A/3A south team. 

The teams competed in a friendly match against their northern counterparts in a best-of-three match. Despite the game affecting no records, the athletes still played with the same competitiveness they’d have in a real game. 

The players from Lexington County made their presence felt and helped contribute to their team’s success. 

McEnulty was selected MVP of the lower-classification game, adding another accolade to a long list of accomplishments achieved during her high school career.

In between sets, the public address announcer went through each player on all the teams and said what they planned to do after graduating. 

Edwards, Sykes and McEnulty will all continue their volleyball careers in college. Edwards signed with Virginia Commonwealth University, Sykes signed with James Madison and McEnulty signed with Charleston Southern. Vinson will not be playing volleyball in college and will instead focus on studies. 

After each game, the All-State selections for each classification were brought out and honored with a brief ceremony. 

Four Lexington County players were honored, despite three of them not being participants in the games. McEnulty, along with River Bluff’s Alexis Jodie, Chapin’s Dani Mejia and Pelion’s Maggie Northcutt all received the recognition.