Apex went undefeated and won its first state championship. Cary Academy finished runner-up in the independent schools 3-A championship for the second straight year. In all, eight area volleyball teams made the playoffs and five had 17 or more victories.

But graduation hit hard for some of the top teams, leaving this year more wide-open than in years past.

We start our team-by-team previews in N.C. High School Athletic Association competition and N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association competition.

Apex (27-0): Perfection is hard to top.

The Cougars ran the gauntlet last year without a blemish and were only taken to five games twice.

While this year's team doesn't expect to do that again with the loss of seven seniors, senior outside hitter Megan Gravley said the team is still focused. Apex has not just a state title, but three consecutive conference championships to defend.

"We won't set any lofty goals but we are going to set goals that are challenging," said Gravley, an Elon recruit.

The most notable graduation losses are Kristen Harris, the state player of the year, and all-American Alston Kearns. Those players won 45 of their last 46 Tri-Nine Conference matches.

Aside from Gravley, coach Nikki O'Connell's team returns seniors Lexie Ament, Alison Winters, Mace Rea and junior Melissa Mayfield.

"Coming off a season like last year, we definitely have a lot of adjustments to make," Gravley said.

Green Hope (17-4): Green Hope's last conference championship was in 2005, but the Falcons - who have finished second in the league four straight years - are poised to change that this year.

With seniors Christina Vucich and Kaitlin Quinn, Green Hope is the only Tri-Nine team returning more than one all-conference performer from last year. The Falcons return all but two players from last year's team.

Vucich, who is committed to Duke, can cause a match-up problem in a number of ways. At 6 feet 4 inches, the lefty is tall enough to block attacks and throw down vicious spikes, but she plans to play setter in college thanks to her passing skills.

"Normally tall people don't have good ball control but I like proving people wrong and make them rethink their game plan," Vucich said.

Madison Brown and Hannah Westervelt also return as juniors to the Falcons' lineup.

Athens Drive (16-9): The Jaguars finished third in the Tri-Nine last year but will bring back just six players from last year's team.

Sophomore Kayla Madia heads up the returning players for Athens.

Cary (14-9): Coach Phillp Goodloe manages a consistent program, which has gone to the playoffs in each of the last five years. This year, his Lady Imps will be poised to keep the streak alive with all-conference selection Erin Harwood, a senior, returning to the fold as well as junior Leah Blackley and sophomore Olivia Moore.

Panther Creek (11-9): The Catamounts have made the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and appear to keep trending upward.

Coach Bonnie O'Connor's team has a strong senior trio in Lauren Webb, Emily Hendricks and Jasmine Aguinaldo.

Holly Springs (7-11): The Golden Hawks narrowly missed the postseason last year.

Gone is all-conference middle blocker Brandi Anderson, who is now playing at Western Carolina. Sarah Willadson, Kristen Krebs, Hunter Rimmer and Jordin Phillips return for their senior seasons.

Middle Creek (5-14): The Mustangs couldn't return to the playoffs last year -- 2009 was their first time accomplishing the feat -- and the team ended the year losing seven of its last eight contests.

Most of last year's team does return, including junior outside hitter Ashley Battle.

Fuquay-Varina (7-13): The Bengals had to bid adieu to all-conference standouts Raquelle Keeton and Alexa Cannon, who each graduated, but Fuquay does welcome back a number of contributors from last year.

Abby Moody, Jessi Johnson and Danielle Plante are the team's only three seniors.

Six juniors also make up this year's roster. Jeff Pagel is in his first year of coaching the varsity after coaching the JV team last year.

Private Schools

Cary Academy (35-3): The Chargers are a remarkable 68-4 in the past two seasons with half of those losses coming in state championship games. But most of the core from those teams has graduated, including all-state selection Cate Glendenning and all-American Ashleigh Crutcher.

Coach Melanie Bryant will rely heavily on senior Abby Larus and juniors Elizabeth Carlton, Anna Jamieson and Mickayla Sanders.

Grace Christian (20-9): The Eagles advanced to the playoffs last year in their first season under Rita Stubbs, who is now the school's athletics director.

Stubbs returns a number of last year's team including the Carolinas Christian Conference player of the year, junior Lydia Rooth. All-conference selection Skyler Dascombe, a junior, also returns.

Cary Christian (17-7): The Lady Knights lost much of last year's team, which was one of the last four 2-A independent schools standing last year, but will return senior Ally White.