Warriors turn back county foe

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on October 3, 2012 1:49 PM

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Eastern Wayne used the emotion of senior night to overcome a slow start and rallied for a 16-25, 25-16, 25-9, 25-11 win over Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference rival Southern Wayne on Tuesday night.

The victory was the Warriors first in conference play since 2010.

"I am so pleased for the girls because I have seen how hard they have worked in practice," Eastern Wayne head coach Tony Parrish said. "Last season we did not win a conference game, so I feel like tonight we kind of got a monkey off our backs."

The night started slowly for the Warriors.

Following a brief ceremony honoring the team's four seniors, Eastern Wayne took to the floor and looked out of sorts. Southern Wayne continually found outside hitter Deborah Bennett and rolled to a 25-16 first-set win.

Eastern Wayne bounced back in the second set behind some excellent serving from Allyson Newsome and a pair of kills by Casey Young that led to a 15-9 advantage. Newsome delivered two kills to put the set away in the Warriors' favor.

The third set was no contest as Eastern Wayne jumped out to a 16-4 lead and never looked back. The fourth set followed the same script with the Warriors building a 10-2 advantage and cruising to the match-sealing set win.

"I thought tonight was the best we have played all season across the board," Parrish said. "We served the ball well, our passing was good and we got some timely hitting that allowed us to play with the lead."

Eastern Wayne (5-12 overall, 1-8 ECC) was paced by Newsome's eight kills and nine aces. Young and Jenna Rouse each finished with four kills in the win.

Bennett led the Southern Wayne attack with six kills and one block. Savannah Wiggins and Keaton Bradley each added three kills in the defeat.

Southern Wayne (3-12, 1-8) plays host to South Johnston on Thursday, while Eastern Wayne travels to Charles B. Aycock.