In first-round high school volleyball games Saturday, the North Stanly Comets and Gray Stone Knights both earned road victories, while South Stanly lost its opening round match.

2A Playoffs

North Stanly 3, East Gaston 0

After finishing the regular season fourth in the 1A/2A Yadkin Valley Conference, the Comets received the No. 25 seed and went on the road to face the No. 10 East Gaston Warriors.

North (14-10) swept East (14-9) in straight sets with scores of  25-18, 25-17 and 25-8.

The Comets go on the road again Tuesday night when North travels to No. 7 Maiden (20-6). The Blue Devils advanced to the second round with a 3-1 win over Hendersonville (25-21, 24-26, 25-16 and 25-21). Maiden finished first in the 2A Catawba Valley Conference regular-season standings.

1A Playoffs

Gray Stone 3, Starmount 1

The Knights (15-7) finished second in the YVC behind the No. 1 seed in the 1A West, Union Academy, but the Knights drew a No. 14 seed and hosted the No. 19 seeded Starmount Rams (13-11) Saturday.

Gray Stone won in four sets with scores of 25-15, 25-21, 16-25 and 25-18 in favor of the Knights.

The Knights go on the road Tuesday to face No. 3 seed Bishop McGuinness (21-5). The Villains took first place in the 1A Northwest Piedmont Conference this season.

Highlands 3, South Stanly 2

The Rebel Bulls (10-14) made the long trip into the mountains Saturday as the No. 23 seed, having finished fifth in the YVC in the regular season, to take on No. 10 Highlands (13-9).

South answered the Highlanders each time Highland took a lead in the match, but the fifth and final set went to Highlands, 3-2. Scores of the match were 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 25-22 and 15-11 in favor of the hosts.