Rosewood tops North Johnston volleyball
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 24, 2010 1:46 PM
Lesson learned.
A stronger attitude.
Self-motivation.
Rosewood flashed those characteristics in a 25-20, 25-18, 25-20 triumph over North Johnston on the volleyball court Monday afternoon. The Eagles (2-1 overall) swept the regular-season series from the Panthers, who exited with an 0-4 worksheet.
Freshman middle hitter Ellen Morgan supplied a match-high 13 kills and a solo block, while frontline mate Rachael Kornegay contributed 11 kills and two blocks. Senior setter Alyssa Hill dished out 25 assists.
North Johnston recorded just 12 kills as a team.
The former Carolina 1-A Conference rivals battled through nine ties and four lead changes in the three-set affair. Unlike their loss five days ago to Union, the Eagles thwarted late rallies by the Panthers.
Rosewood built seven-point advantages in each set, only to see North Johnston climb within three points each time.
"We lost last Thursday against Union ... had a bunch of rallies and didn't win them, so that was a lesson learned big-time," said Eagles head coach Jennifer Cochran. "We played together when we needed to play together. There were parts where we didn't play together and we let them back in it."
The Panthers pulled within 22-20 in the opening set, but committed three straight unforced errors for the 25-20 finale. North Johnston had 28 unforced errors overall.
The visitors closed the gap to 19-16 in the second set before Jennifer Liles' kill off Spell's assist ignited a set-ending, 8-2 run. Liles served three consecutive aces after earning the kill.
Meredith Johnson's middle-court kill trimmed Rosewood's lead to 19-17 in the decisive third set. An unforced error and back-to-back kills by Morgan led to a match-clinching, 6-3 surge.
"Our attitude was the thing that most pleased me (today)," said Cochran. "They could motivate themselves on the court and they didn't need me to intervene. I let them work it out a little bit and that was a lesson learned from Thursday."
Laura Vinson and Megann Tyndall collected six kills and three kills, respectively, for the Eagles. Rachyle McAlduff handed out five assists.
Rosewood served 11 aces as a team.
Cochran said the group was learning things about themselves, finding a comfort zone in the offense and figuring out who can fill the void left by last year's seniors.
"We've got some big shoes to fill and we're filling them little by little ... pulling it together, I think," said Cochran.