SMITHFIELD - Clayton and Smithfield-Selma battled through another five-set thriller in the Greater Neuse River Conference regular-season finale on Thursday. Looking an awful lot alike with almost identical records, the teams traded wins and held everyone in suspense until nearly the last possible moment with Smithfield-Selma winning the thriller three games to two (16-25, 25-22, 25-21, 12-25, 15-10).

SSS (5-15 overall, 5-9 conference) won the coin toss for the deciding game and chose to serve. The Spartans' Chelsea Creech broke a two-two tie and stretched it into an 8-2 lead for Smithfield-Selma.

However, the Comets rallied behind the left-side serve of Nicki Kardos and a change of pace with quick sets to cut the Spartan lead to 11-10 and set the Senior Night crowd on the edge of their bleacher seats.

"I called time out and told them, 'We've been here before'," said SSS coach Charles Riley. "We played with confidence and consistency all night and I knew if we continued to control the tips as we had, we'd be ok."

Aggressive kill shots at the net by Creech led to tipped balls flying out of bounds on the Clayton side of the court and a 15-10 final score and the conference win for SSS. "If we play like we did tonight and like we have the last four or five matches, there's no telling how far we can go. We were up 24-20 Game One at Harnett Central with the serve; we played Garner really tough. [We just need more] confidence and consistency."

Clayton (4-16, 4-10) came out and set the tone early with an impressive victory in game one, 25-16. The game featured strong service and the ability to set senior outside hitter Price Ryder. Ryder established herself as the games big hitter in game one with four kills from the left side and added four service points. Elizabeth Ashley had four kills for SSS to keep it close.

Smithfield-Selma tied the set with a win in Game Two on the shoulders of Hannah Haines who had the best service run of the night. Pulling SSS from a 9-12 deficit, Haines put SSS in the lead for good at 16-12. Haines eventually added an Ace, two kills, a block, and she also served the winning point in Game Two which ended 25-22.

"We played consistent, for the most part," Riley said. "We focused on spreading the ball around, trying to not be so predictable. It really helped to open up the court."

Smithfield-Selma also spread the wealth in game three, winning 25-21 with balanced scoring and some determined net play. Although Clayton racked up seven kills on the game, they were never able to get on a service run and had three net violations.

Down two games to one, Clayton looked to Ryder again. And she came through, this time from behind the service line running off five straight points to bring the score to game point before the Comets closed it out 25-12. Ryder led the Comets scoring on the night and finished the set with nine kills in a valiant effort.

SSS and Clayton both saw their seasons come to an end in the quarterfinals of the Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference tournament on Saturday. West Johnston also fell in the quarters but will likely advance to the state playoffs as the league's No. 5 seed.