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North Davie’s volleyball team unraveled in the third set at Wesleyan Christian Academy but gathered steam for the conference tournament by surviving a home match against Summit.

The outcomes were reversals from the first meetings, when North beat Wesleyan and lost to Summit.

At Wesleyan on Oct. 5, the Wildcats took the first set 25-17 and dropped the second one 27-25.

“We played a great first set,” coach Trish King said. “(In the second set) we struggled with our serves, which has been our strong point all season. We struggled at the net as well. Wesleyan ended up capitalizing on our mistakes.”

North was wiped out in the third set. “The last set was awful and we lost bad,” King said. “To the say the least, I was not happy.”

Two days later against Summit, it was the kind of get-right match the Wildcats needed. The three-set win gave them second place in the regular-season standings.

Mia Clemo, Miley Brandon and Hayden Gavura provided big serves as North dominated the first set. But then Summit punched back and won the second set 25-22.

“Out of nowhere, Summit steps up their game,” King said.

North had the answer, burying the visitors 15-4 in the third set.

“We regrouped and stepped up our game,” she said. “Hayden did a great job replacing our starting middle who was out sick.”

The win raised North’s record to 8-4. It faced No. 3 South Davie in the conference tournament semifinals Oct. 13 at Davie High at 4:30 p.m. The winner drew the Summit-Wesleyan survivor in the championship match later in the evening.

“It was the best we’ve played all season,” King said of the Summit match. “What a great time to peak.”

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South Davie carried considerable momentum into the tournament after beating Ellis on Oct. 5 and Canterbury on Oct. 7. Both matches were at South.

The Tigers, who won six of seven down the stretch, matched North at 8-4 overall.

Ellis fell at home to Wesleyan on Oct. 7, its season closing with four straight losses and a 4-8 record. The scores were 25-18, 25-21.