LUMBERTON — Through the countless hugs and the photos and the raising of the trophy, Alicia Lamb couldn’t hold back the tears.

This flow was one of happiness — but a bittersweet one, too, at the end of a wonderful journey.

“I’m just so happy for my girls, and I’m losing three of my eighth-graders,” Lamb said. “That’s the hardest thing is saying goodbye to the eighth-graders.”

The Southeastern Academy volleyball team, coached by Lamb, won the Robeson County middle school championship Wednesday, beating Littlefield Middle 3-1 in front of a raucous crowd at Lumberton High School.

“Both teams fought very hard; I’m proud of each and every one of them,” Lamb said. “The girls definitely wanted it; they came out swinging out of the gate. I couldn’t ask for a better crowd, for both teams. In my eyes, we’re all winners.”

Southeastern Academy (9-0) completed an undefeated run after winning six regular-season games and three playoff games,

“It’s been really fun. It’s been hard, but fun and exciting. And we’ve had a good team and everybody bonded,” the Dolphins’ Chloe Campbell said.

Those eighth-graders lauded by Lamb include Campbell, Rylee Sealey and Kylena Bell.

“It means a lot, because it’s our last year, and it’s something we can contribute to the school,” Bell said.

“All three of these girls, they’ve taken the captain roles, pushed the team, brought them together as the glue,” Lamb said. “They’re definitely the true definition of hard work pays off. They helped me to be a better coach by believing in me, which made me work harder for them.”

The Dolphins pulled away late in a closely-contested first set to win 25-18. The second set was even closer; it was tied 17-17 before Southeastern won four straight points for a 21-17 lead, then Littlefield (8-1) closed the Southeastern lead to 23-22. Southeastern won two of the next three points to win the set 25-23 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Littlefield started the third set on an 8-0 run; Southeastern closed the gap to 17-15 before the Hornets used another 8-0 run to seal the set win at 25-15 and send the match to a fourth set.

“We were kind of in our heads; we just had to regroup and get ourselves together,” Campbell said.

The Hornets started the fourth with another run, 6-0, but Southeastern tied the score at 11-11. Littlefield used a 5-1 stretch to take a 21-18 lead, but the Dolphins scored four straight on Rustin Walters’ serve to take a 23-22 lead.

What ensued from there was a back-and-forth battle that extended the set past its normal 25-point limit; Southeastern led 26-25 and looked primed to clinch the match before back-to-back kills by Giselle Leach gave Littlefield a 27-26 lead. Southeastern won the next three points to win 29-27 and seal the championship.

“I thought that fourth set, we really gained the momentum, we had them,” Littlefield coach Tori Sealy said. “I was proud of my eighth-graders for stepping up. We missed a few key serves that kind of opened the door for Southeastern.”

Littlefield suffered its first loss after winning a conference championship in the regular season; both teams entered Wednesday’s match at 8-0 after winning their conference and two previous playoff games.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better team. I thought the way we’ve gotten better throughout the season was impressive,” Sealy said. “They’ve put in the work, I just hate we didn’t get the outcome we wanted.”