Eastern Wayne-Goldsboro volleyball
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on August 19, 2011 1:47 PM
Goldsboro gave Eastern Wayne all it could handle for three sets.
It was the Warriors who had the finishing touch.
Eastern Wayne pulled away late in all three sets of a 25-18, 25-18, 25-19 road victory on Thursday.
Brooke Doherty's ace gave the Warriors an 18-12 lead in the opening set. Rachel McCollum's kill stretched the lead to 22-15. Stephanie Smith's kill brought the first set to a close.
McCollum served four consecutive aces as Eastern Wayne grabbed an early 7-5 lead in set two. Latrice Burgess' ace pulled the Cougars to within 15-12. Three aces from McCollum down the stretch finished off set two.
McCollum finished with 17 aces.
"I told our team Goldsboro is much improved and that we were going to have to come in here and battle," said Warriors' head coach Tony Parrish. "That's good for us. We did a much better job of serving today. This game is about momentum and there at the end of each set our servers got on a roll."
The Cougars held a 14-12 advantage midway through the third set before the Warriors reeled off seven straight points. Kills from Madeline Smith, Jasmine Benjamin and Haley Smith and Doherty's ace helped finish off the first set.
"The girls played hard and I'm very pleased with them," said Goldsboro head coach T.J. Lancaster. "I thought in game three we stepped up and I just think it's a mental game with us now. Goldsboro volleyball is at a place now where physically and ability wise we can play.
"I think now, it's the mentality where we have to really get into it."
Kashieka Wallace led the Cougars (1-2 overall) with five kills.
Eastern Wayne (1-1) visits Jones Senior on Monday. Goldsboro travels to Hobbton next Wednesday.