Rebels overcome slow start on road
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on September 30, 2011 1:48 PM
North Duplin survived a slow start and came up with critical points at critical moments.
The result was a 21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 26-24 win over Goldsboro on the Carolina 1-A Conference volleyball scene on Thursday night.
Early in the match it appeared as if old habits were once again about to show themselves in the Rebels' game. Six missed serves in the first set helped the Cougars grab an 18-14 lead and eventually led to a defeat.
"I don't know what it was in that first set but we weren't ready to play," North Duplin head coach Kelly Brown said. "We took ourselves out of it by missing so many serves."
North Duplin fought back in the second set and erased an early 14-11 deficit on the strength of two aces by Danielle Hinrichs and a kill by Tearra Ammons. The Rebels captured the set and rode the wave of momentum to a third-set conquest.
A pair of blocks by Kasheika Wallace pushed the Cougars out to an 11-8 lead in the fourth set before the Rebels evened the score on consecutive kills by Skylar McCarty. The teams battled back and forth with neither team gaining more than a two-point advantage until the final three points of the match.
With the Rebels trailing 24-23, Ammons stepped to the service line and fired back-to-back aces to give the visitors the lead. An unforced error by the Cougars ended the match.
"We tried to win it before (Ammons) got back on serve," Goldsboro head coach T.J. Lancaster said. "She is very good, and we knew she was coming up, but we couldn't quite get that last point to extend the match."
Ammons paced the Rebels (11-5 overall, 4-2 CC) with 10 kills, five aces and three blocks. McCarty added eight kills. Hannah Brock dished out 25 assists.
Brandy Johnson paced the Cougars' attack with eight kills and five blocks. Wallace added five kills and five blocks.
"We played one of the better teams in this conference about as even as we could play them," Lancaster said. "That is what we are capable of every time out. We just need to find a way to win those last few points to get us over the hump."
Goldsboro (5-10, 1-5) will play host to Rosewood on Tuesday, while North Duplin visits league-leading Princeton.