PITTSBORO — Coming off its second straight state championship appearance, Seaforth started the 2026 season on the right foot. 

The Hawks dominated Northwood in their season opener 3-0 Tuesday.

“We were ready to play someone else besides ourselves,” Seaforth coach Scott Green said. “So we came out here, we served very, very well. That’s going to get us a lot of free balls. We passed well, hit well, and we did all the fundamentals well.”

Seaforth jumped out to an 11-1 lead before the first timeout of the opening period. The Hawks took advantage of gaps in the Chargers’ defense and also forced mistakes.

Not much changed in the second period as Seaforth built a 14-4 lead. Northwood responded with three straight points, but a kill from sophomore Stella Bailey sparked another Seaforth run to put it back ahead by 10. 

Early in the third period, Northwood took its first lead of the game (3-2) on a Seaforth error. The Hawks then outscored Northwood 23-5 to close out the win. 

Seaforth moved to 1-0 on the season. This year, the Hawks, returning key seniors Ally Forbes, Abigail Valgus and Clarke Hollier, will expect younger players to help uphold the championship standard as the team moves on without Josie Valgus (now at TCU) and Naomi Stevenson. Green is looking for sophomore libero Isabelle Valgus, freshman right-side hitter Emira Leonard and freshman defensive specialist Rachel Wong to have impactful seasons. 

“I feel like all of them are really competitive,” Forbes said about the younger core. “I feel like that fits in really well with our culture. They just bring a lot of energy because obviously, we all have something to prove. But being younger, they have just that extra drive in them, and I think that’s super important, and that’s just super fun to play with every day.”

The Hawks feels their chemistry is already strong after preseason scrimmages and its first game. Entering this season, they weren’t initially sure they could return to the state championship and claim the title, but they’re starting to once again realize the possibility.

“In these couple of games, it’s really shown how good our chemistry is,” Abigail Valgus said. “Even though we have a couple of new players here and there, I think we’re already molding together very well, and as it is me and Ally’s senior year, that makes us want it even more.”

Northwood, which defeated Chatham Central 3-1 in its season opener and logged the first win for new coach Laura Karpf Monday, fell to 1-1.


Score

	1	2	3	4	5
Seaforth	25	25	25			3
Northwood	8	10	8			0