Abby Wilkins of Davie’s varsity volleyball team is turning ability into productivity. The senior highlighted a 3-0 road win over Page on Aug. 28 with 14 kills and 11 blocks.

“It was funny. My parents from the stands were yelling ‘Tyra who?’” coach Amber Brandon said. Tyra Galloway was the star of the 2017 War Eagles and is now playing for the Charlotte 49ers. “The potential has been there since Abby’s freshman year. You’ve been able to see that some day it was going to click and it was all going to come together, so it’s been super fun to watch that happen her senior year.”

Three days earlier, when Davie overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat Statesville in five sets, Wilkins “was a huge part of that,” Brandon said.

The Pirates fell to 4-4 with their second 3-0 loss in a row.

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The War Eagles were supposed to handle Page with no trouble. The real test was the next day at Northwest Guilford. The 4-A Vikings came in 2-5, but that record was incredibly deceiving. They’ve played a loaded schedule. Two days before hosting Davie, they lost in five sets to Reagan, which is 5-1 and has finished first in the Central Piedmont Conference every year since 2010.

Brandon didn’t really know what she had on the ride to Greensboro, but Davie turned a corner with a 25-19, 25-17, 25-19 decision – the signature win of the season.

“Northwest Guilford has played a really tough schedule,” she said. “When we saw how we handled them, we can start to compare ourselves to the powerhouses in 4-A.”

The War Eagles (6-1) did exactly as they had hoped, pushing their winning streak to five and registering their fifth win in three sets while Brandon got some big-picture revelations.

“We’re super undersized and Northwest is a very big team,” she said. “They are pretty much 6-foot across the net at all times. That was another positive thing for my kids. We played pretty well in all aspects of the game other than serving.”

Davie got dominating performances from senior Emma Slabach (11 kills, two aces), senior Morgan Flores (22 digs), senior Lauren Grooms (25 assists) and sophomore Dyllan Everhardt (four solo blocks).

“(Everhardt’s blocks were) huge for us,” Brandon said. “Northwest has probably the best middle in our area, and Dyllan did a really good job of keeping her under control.”

Freshman Ali Angell did nice work with five kills and her highest hitting percentage of the season.

“Ali is trying to fill (injured) Kayla Moore’s shoes,” she said. “She had a really good match. She did a good job of helping block. It was nice for her to play a big team and a team that was good, and you could tell she’s starting to settle into the game. Her and Lauren are starting to click.”