Rosewood sweeps N. Duplin

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 21, 2012 1:48 PM

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Rosewood picked the perfect time to shake off its recent serving woes.

The Eagles reeled off 22 aces during the fifth installment of their "Serving Up a Cure" series with Carolina 1-A Conference foe North Duplin. Junior Ellen Morgan delivered a whopping 14 aces in a 25-15, 25-12, 25-5 conquest of the Rebels.

Anna Ingram collected five aces, Crystal Allen served three and Callie Thornton and Heather Lancaster served one apiece in the three-set affair.

So much for those 29 serving errors that haunted the Eagles last week.

"We've been focusing on serving and obviously that was better today," Rosewood head coach Jennifer Cochran said. "We missed 29 serves last week alone, but I don't know how many we missed today. It was very few.

"I'm proud of them for that."

Rosewood (10-4 overall, 3-0 CC) pulled away late in the opening set.

Ingram's kill off Scout Anderson's assist fueled a set-ending 6-1 run. Ingram supplied two more kills and Allen served an ace, which was a sign of things to come.

The Rebels (3-8, 1-3) pulled to within 8-7 in the second set, but yielded an 11-2 run. Ingram served four aces during that stretch and Morgan slammed a kill off Hayley Mercer's assist. A hitting error by North Duplin closed the set and gave Rosewood a 2-0 advantage.

The Eagles grabbed an early 6-1 lead on kills by Morgan and Ingram, and then slammed the door at the service line. Leading 14-5, Morgan served eight aces during a set- and match-clinching 11-0 run.

"I feel like we're just not playing together as a team," second-year North Duplin head coach Kelly Brown said. "We don't have any starters back from last year, and I have two seniors with little experience. I just feel like we're in a learning process."

Anderson dished out 10 assists among five hitters. Allen posted a game-high seven kills, while Ingram and Morgan combined for nine kills.

Junior Paige Beene handed out nine assists for the Rebels. Sophomore Chesney Brown and senior Lyndsie Harrell had five kills apiece.

Half of the concession sales and all monies raised from baked goods, a silent auction and donation bucket will be donated to Wayne County Relay for Life.