Davie’s volleyball team is better than good. It’s too early to say – it hasn’t played a Central Piedmont Conference match yet – but the War Eagles might be better than great.

Davie had a mammoth match against visiting North Iredell on Sept. 5. The 3-A Raiders came in 5-1 with four consecutive wins. They went 26-4 last year and they put up a 156-23 record from 2010-16, averaging 22 wins a season over the seven-year span. They beat Davie in three sets in 2014 and 2016.

But Davie passed the test by winning in five sets. Through seven matches, this was the War Eagles’ first five-set battle. The scores were 25-17, 15-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-9.

“We commanded the first and third sets, and they commanded the second and fourth,” coach Amber Brandon said. “They are extremely strong. We needed a challenge and we got one. And we rose to the occasion.”

Davie took the fifth set 15-9.

“I felt like we were at a disadvantage because we hadn’t played a fifth set, and I didn’t know how my kids were going to respond to that,” she said. “North won a big match last week in five (over the defending 3-A champion, Cox Mill). But my kids had in their mind that they weren’t losing that game. We were firing on all cylinders.”

Morgan Flores (25 digs, four aces), Emma Slabach and Lauren Grooms turned in outstanding defensive games.

“We looked the strongest on defense that we’ve looked,” she said. “We picked up some balls that we hadn’t been picking up. Morgan always leads the defense. She’s a libero; that’s her job. Emma and Lauren had really good nights on defense.”

Blocking was a factor in the outcome. Credit again goes to Slabach (15 kills, 15 digs) and Grooms (18 digs, 41 assists), who helped Tyra Galloway (20 kills) and Abby Wilkins form a consistent wall at the net.

“Emma and Lauren stepped up in helping (Galloway and Wilkins) get a handle on North’s strong outsides,” she said.

Kayla Moore contributed 17 digs.

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Two days later at Foard, the War Eagles continued to play like a well-oiled machine, winning 3-0 against a 2-A power. The Tigers (8-2) entered with an eight-match winning streak. In fact, they had won six straight in three sets.

The 8-0 mark gave Davie its best start since the 2002 team opened with eight wins in a row.

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Davie blew away Lake Norman and Statesville on Sept. 9 at Statesville. Both matches went four sets. Slabach was sensational.

“Emma played unreal all day,” Brandon said.

The War Eagles are 10-0 with nine wins in three or four sets. From 1996-2016, a span of 21 years, Davie never enjoyed a 10-0 mark. So this could be the greatest start in the program’s 41-year history.