Warriors complete regular-season sweep of Cougars in volleyball

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on August 21, 2012 1:49 PM

• Print
• Email

Eastern Wayne came ready to play.

Goldsboro took too long to get its game together.

The result was a 25-13, 25-18, 27-25 victory for the Warriors on Monday night in New Hope. Eastern Wayne swept the regular-season series against the Cougars.

"I thought we had our minds right from the beginning," Eastern Wayne head coach Tony Parrish said. "We started strong and got out to a pretty comfortable lead in the first two sets. Now we need to work on finishing matches."

Eastern Wayne (2-2 overall) capitalized on some sloppy play by the Cougars in the opening set. Goldsboro committed six unforced errors during the first eight points.

The second set was the same story, only slightly worse for the Cougars as the Warriors built a 13-0 lead and cruised through the rest of the set.

"I don't know why but that is the way we have been playing so far this season," Goldsboro head coach T.J. Lancaster said. "We wait until our backs are against the wall before we start really playing like we are capable."

The third set turned out to be the most competitive of the night as Goldsboro got off to an early 3-1 lead. Eastern Wayne stormed back to take a 6-4 advantage before behind a pair of service aces from Allyson Newsome.

The squads battled back and forth until Goldsboro took a late 24-23 lead on the heels of consecutive kills by Brandy Johnson. The Cougars could not finish the match on serve, however, and Eastern Wayne rallied for a 27-25 victory.

"I think we won the first two sets and we got a little sluggish," Parrish said. "We have to learn to play all out until the final point. It is too hard to turn the intensity on and off."

Newsome paced Eastern Wayne with seven kills and two aces. Jenna Rouse added three kills.

Johnson emerged the leader for Goldsboro with six kills.

"I know that this team has the potential to be competitive," Lancaster said. "We just have to make some adjustments in practice and try to fix some of our rotations."

Goldsboro (1-3 overall) entertains Hobbton on Wednesday, while Eastern Wayne plays host to Greene Central today.